


Six Knights, Two Princesses

by Book_Warrior7, Singing_Dream



Series: Alternate Skies [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adult May, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Alternate Universe - Underfell, Alternate Universe - Underswap, Blood and Injury, But still expect some feels and angst, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Here we go, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Less of a Rollercoaster than BtM, Mages (Undertale) - Freeform, May and June have slightly expanded abilities, Mild Blood, Multiple AUs Occupying the Same Location, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, So this is basically another AU dump but with an entirely different scenario, Some Humor, The girls' mom isn't a total bitch this time and actually cares about them, Underpatch, Undertale Referred to as "Alpha", Weird Combination of Medieval Kingdoms and Modern Cities/Governments, dark pasts, sexy fluff?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-27
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-11-19 15:11:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 43,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11315997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Book_Warrior7/pseuds/Book_Warrior7, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Singing_Dream/pseuds/Singing_Dream
Summary: In a day and age where medieval kingdoms function alongside modern day cities and governments, somehow, the last thing humans expected was for monsters to emerge from under mountain ranges all over the world. Yet, they did, one alternate version - one "clan" - at a time. And caught in the middle is the kingdom of the Skies family, ruled by Queen Jane and her two daughters, Princess May and Lady June. Since taking a monster-friendly stance, the three have found themselves in mortal danger, and the queen has decided it's time for some drastic measures to ensure their safety, and the future of their kingdom...Inspired byRaccoonSinQueen'sSix Skeletons, One Maid.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [RaccoonSinQueen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaccoonSinQueen/gifts).



When monsters returned to the surface, the last thing the women of the Skies family expected was to side with them. No, that’s not entirely true. The queen, Jane, had perhaps not expected that, but her two daughters had taken it right in stride, practically welcoming them with open arms. (Well, one of them did, anyway. But she was like that to just about everyone who ever lived.) That, however, is beside the point.

What was even more unexpected was the resurgence of not just one race of monsters, but several – all looking mostly the same, but all different. And yet, the Skies clan declared their kingdom to be friendly to all monsters, no matter the clan or family they themselves came from. After all, they reasoned, the monsters weren’t that different than humans, when one boiled it all down. And it was this acceptance of both the differences and the similarities that made the Skies family such good allies to the monsters. But it was because of this that their kingdom was also in great turmoil. Their kingdom was rather prosperous, and its citizens happy – they had a benevolent queen, who was wise and fair, not just in looks, but in practice as well. Then there were the princesses. The elder was as fair a beauty as any would ever find, and she possessed a keen mind for battle and strategy. However, it was this cold and analytical approach to things that left many who sought an audience with her shaking in their boots. If it was not her mind that people feared, it was one of two things: her might, or her tongue. She was a battle-hardened and fire-forged warrior with a tongue of silver, able to cut down any and all with either look, word, or blade. Her sister, however, was just the opposite. The younger princess was just as beautiful as her sister, but rather than cold intelligence, she had in her a warm and bleeding heart. Regarded as kind, sweet, and generous by all, it was no surprise that she was the first to declare her friendly stance when the monsters first came to the surface. Truly, with a ruling family such as theirs, it was no surprise that their kingdom thrived. Despite this, their standing with monsters was what currently had their kingdom in a state of crisis.

For the one thing any of the women of the Skies family least expected from monsters coming to the surface, it was for anyone to make attempts on their lives. True, the elder princess had expected as much when it came to herself – she was, after all, no stranger to making enemies – but for anyone to attack the soft spoken queen or kind-hearted younger princess, was a shock. But, nearly a year after the monsters first returned to the surface, there were still assassination attempts, and they were escalating. So much so, that the queen finally decided to take action.

Sending a secret call to the monsters for help, she devised a plan to ensure the safety and future of the kingdom. Queen Jane had only to hope that the help would arrive in time for her to put her plan into motion…before the worst befell her or her daughters.


	2. Introducing...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah...so I had to break up the actual intro to the work into four parts because I wrote too much. This is part 2. Also, **_POSSIBLE TRIGGER WARNING!!!!!!!_** There is a mention of blood partway through the chapter, though it's in a small part. I'll mark the spot where you'll need to skip for the blood with a line of exclamation points and leave what happened in the notes below.

**_*A few months after Queen Jane sent her plea for help…*_ **

“excuse me, miss?”

The young lady spoken to, a beautiful girl with ivory skin, midnight hair, eyes of blue ice, and the cutest splash of freckles across her nose and cheeks, looked up from the conversation she was having. The other person bid her adieu and turned their attention to their wares, freeing the girl to give her full attention to the speaker, to whom she gave a warm and welcoming smile.

“Hello, good sir knight!” she returned, giving a polite curtsy. “What can I do for you?”

“we were told to seek an audience with the queen and princesses of this kingdom,” the knight replied, nodding his head to her curtsy. The girl’s expression read politely curious as she took in the appearance of the knight and his five companions.

The knight speaking was skeletal in appearance – as all of them were – thus leading her to believe them to be monsters. Moreover, he was one of three shorter knights, though he seemed to be the leader of their small band. Of the three (as she could tell there were only three clans represented among the knights), she believed she could recognize at least two of the clans the monsters came from. The easiest ones to tell from the others were the two in black and red, obviously hailing from the Fell clan. The other pairs were slightly more difficult to tell apart, but only because she could tell one of them came from the Swap clan. The other pair was clearly from the Alpha clan, but she couldn’t distinguish which pair was Swap clan and which was Alpha clan. Either way, she allowed another smile to accompany her curiosity as she tilted her head, her long black braid sweeping across her back with the motion.

“Oh? An audience with the royal family? My, you must be on important business, then! By all means, good sir knights – follow me. I shall lead you to the palace.”

With that, she turned and beckoned the six skeletons to follow her, a knowing little smile on her lips.

“THANK YOU FOR GUIDING US, MISS! IT IS VERY KIND OF YOU!” one of the smaller knights, this one clad in bright silver and blue armor, called cheerily. The raven-haired girl giggled sweetly, flashing the knights a smile so bright, it rivaled the sun.

“Of course, sir knight! I am always happy to be of service to anyone in need!”

After a beat of comfortable silence, she turned to the knights again, tilting her head as she caught their attentions again.

“If you do not mind my asking, sir knights, what are your names? I know almost everyone in the kingdom by name, and I would love to know what to call you.”

“A VALID AND REASONABLE REQUEST, GOOD LADY!” the silver-and-blue-armored one answered, puffing out his chest with pride. “I AM THE MAGNIFICENT SANS – ER, THE MAGIFICENT BLUEBERRY! BUT MOST SHORTEN IT DOWN TO JUST SIR BLUE!”

“AND I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS, GOOD LADY!” cried one of the taller knights, this one in white and silver armor with a great red cape. The girl couldn’t help but giggle at the two, already enamored with their excitable and friendly natures.

“I AM THE GREAT AND TERRIBLE PAPYRUS!” declared the tall skeleton from Fell clan, his own tattered blood-red cape fluttering in the breeze. “BUT TO ANYONE OUTSIDE OF FELL CLAN, I AM SIR EDGE…SO I AM NOT CONFUSED WITH THAT OTHER OAF.”

The girl held her tongue diplomatically, though she did not miss the looks that passed between the knights after Sir Edge’s statement.

“i’m red,” answered the other Fell clan knight simply, leaving it at that.

“call me sir orange, m’lady,” replied the last of the tall knights, giving her a lazy smile.

“and i’m sir sans,” the last knight said, ironically having been the first to speak to her. She gave them all cordial smiles in return and nodded, committing their names to memory.

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet all of you, good sir knights.”

“WAIT…PAPY, WHY DID YOU CALL HER M’LADY?” Sir Blue turned to Sir Orange, confused.

“saw the circlet in her hair. i assumed she must at the very least be a lady. am i wrong, miss?” he inquired when she giggled. The blue-eyed beauty, having lead them almost entirely to the castle, finally stopped and turned to them, letting the knights see her knowing smirk.

“In a way, yes. But in a way, no,” she answered cryptically, giggling again. “I’m sorry, good sir knights. It’s not very nice of me to lead you on this way. Allow me to introduce myself. I am the princess Mayflower, though most in the kingdom know me as Princess May. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

She curtsied to them once more, laughing at the incredulous looks on the knights’ faces. Once they recovered, Sir Sans, Blue, Papyrus, and Orange all bowed respectfully to her. Sir Red and Edge, however, just continued to look at her as if she were crazy.

“beg your pardon, your highness. we had no idea you were…” Sir Sans started, to which May held up a hand with an amused little smirk.

“It’s alright. I don’t mind. It’s not often I can go out anymore and not be recognized. After all, as I said, I know just about everyone in the kingdom by name! Ah, but all fun aside, if you’ve come to speak to us, then I’m sure Mother is expecting you. We shouldn’t keep her waiting.”

Again the young princess turned on her heel and beckoned the knights after her, and after a moment’s hesitation, they followed. Sir Blue actually stepped up beside her and kept pace with her, despite the fact that she was taller than he was.

“PRINCESS, WHY ARE YOU NOT…UM…”

“Why am I not dressed like a princess?”

“YES!”

“Because I go out like this every day. I mean, I go out for a walk among my people every day, and I use my daily walk to see if they are happy and their needs are met. It reminds the people that they are important to us, and that we care about their needs and happiness just as much as our own. It also reminds them that, no matter if it is a time of prosperity or a time of duress, the royal family will always answer any question or request they have. In times of chaos and turmoil such as this, it helps boost morale as well. I have had many a citizen tell me that seeing me on my daily stroll, despite everything currently going on – especially when it would be safer and easier for me to lock myself in the castle – it brings them…peace. Security. A certain sense of hope. And honestly, the less dressed up I am, the easier it is for my people to approach me and speak to me. I am much easier to approach this way, am I not?”

“WOWIE! YOU’RE RIGHT, PRINCESS! I WOULD HAVE NEVER THOUGHT OF THAT! LOOKING LIKE THIS, IT IS EASY TO FORGET YOU ARE A PRINCESS AND JUST SPEAK TO YOU AS A NORMAL PERSON!!”

“Exactly the point. Besides, can you imagine wearing all that finery and heavy jewelry and things to go out on walks every single day? No, thank you!”

She laughed at her own comment, and Sir Blue laughed with her, agreeing with how uncomfortable it would be to wear all that every single day just for a stroll around town. Then, just as they passed under a set of stone arches leading onto the castle grounds –

May threw an arm out to halt Sir Blue in his tracks, pushing him behind her a bit as she ducked, a mace narrowly missing her head. The other knights tensed or flinched, gasping as the spiked metal ball soared over her head, wielded by a knight charging another knight, clearly in the middle of a sparring match. The young princess, however, was not impressed or amused, straightening with a frown.

“Watch it!” she shouted after the knight, steering the monsters as best she could around the sparring match. “I’m terribly sorry, sir knights. I forgot my walks usually take longer, because they’re usually done by the time I get back…”

“man, they’re really goin’ at it,” Sir Red commented, both he and Sir Edge looking very interested in the fighting. The young princess sighed, her hands on her hips as they all stopped to watch.

“As they should. That one wearing the helmet? This is training for that knight. I usually don’t get to see it, but that’s because I take my walks at the same time they do these lessons…”

“THEY APPEAR TO BE VERY SKILLED!” Sir Papyrus commented. “NOT EVEN UNDYNE CAN MOVE LIKE THAT IN HER ARMOR!”

“Who?”

“we’re from alpha clan, so our undyne is captain of the royal guard,” Sir Sans explained. “for those two – they’re from swap clan – it’s alphys who’s captain of the royal guard. for fell clan, that’s edge. undyne is his second in command in fell.”

“I see. So she is a very skilled and powerful warrior, then.”

“pretty much.”

“Then I wonder just how she would fare against this knight…after all, I know for a fact that this knight has yet to find a match on the battlefield.”

“yeah?” Sir Red suddenly interjected, “and just how do you know that?”

“Stay long enough and you’ll see,” the blue-eyed princess replied mysteriously.

So all of them stayed until the sparring was over (which, thankfully, wasn’t that long), and the head of the knights called it when the lone soldier had the other three combatants pinned. May started walking towards the fighters as the knight in the middle finally began to speak.

“I do believe you’re losing your edge, Javert,” she laughed, removing her helmet and tucking it under her arm. “You give in to me far too easily these days.”

“Tis not I that is losing my edge, your highness,” panted the old knight with a wheezing laugh, “but you who is gaining one. Or, at least, making it all the keener…”

The skeletons all stopped and stared, for the female knight bore a shocking resemblance to the princess by their side. Though her features were sharper and slightly more defined than the young princess’, the lady knight had matching black hair and pale skin, with dark green eyes as sharp as the two blades that hung at her hips. The aforementioned princess turned to the monster knights with a knowing smile.

“You asked how I knew…I know because she is my sister. The lady knight before you is the princess Juniper.”

“And anyone who calls me that gets a sword in the gullet,” the older princess said coolly, turning towards the newcomers. Upon seeing her sister, however, her aloof and bored expression instantly changed to a much happier and friendly one, another laugh escaping from her blood-red lips.

“Anyone except _you_ gets a sword in the gullet,” the older girl amended, smiling to the skeletons politely. “A pleasure to make your acquaintance, sir knights.”

The skeletons finally bowed to the elder princess, giving the greeting of “Your highness,” which the princess waved away quickly.

“Please, sir knights. There is no need for such formalities. When I am in my armor, I am one of you. Just June is fine. Or, if you insist on calling me by a title, then Lady June will do. But please, none of the ‘your highness’ or ‘princess’ nonsense.”

The skeletons looked confused, as if they weren’t sure how to take that news. But before anything else could be said, however, there came a scream from within the castle, and all present jumped. The princesses instantly looked to each other, yelled, “Mother!” at the same time, and bolted for the castle, June shouting orders as she ran.

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

The six skeletal knights followed close on the two girls’ heels, racing deeper into the castle as the screams continued. Once they reached the throne room, June, whom had already drawn her swords, spotted an attacker pinning the queen to the ground, struggling with the woman as she attempted to keep him from stabbing her with a dagger. Thinking quickly as she moved, June threw one of her two swords without missing a beat, continuing to race into the room as the sword flew through the air. The blade hit home a moment later, slicing the chest of the attacker and forcing him away from the queen, screaming in pain and gushing blood.

June changed her grip on her remaining sword, charging to her mother’s side, while May stopped and gave the room a critical eye – and good that she did, because she was able to dart forward in time to catch another attacker as he swept towards the elder princess from behind. The younger princess caught the second attacker off guard and cut him down, not with a weapon, but with her bare hands, nailing a few good hits with martial arts moves before a plain punch sent the man flying into a wall. The skeletons watched in shock and fascination as the princesses managed to turn the situation around quickly, June subduing the wounded attacker by leaving her remaining blade poised to slit his throat should he try anything.

Once they were sure there were no more attackers, and that both the current ones were not going to pose a threat, May called to a frightened handmaiden in the corner of the room to fetch a medic, the handmaiden (evidently the one who’d been screaming, as the throne room had fallen silent since the heroic rescue the princesses had performed) flying from the room as fast as her feet could carry her. After the medical team arrived, they relieved June of her duty watching over the wounded attacker, also taking the unconscious second attacker with them to the infirmary wing of the castle. With that taken care off, Princess June proceeded to check over the shaken and bloodied queen.

“Are you alright, Mother?” May asked, flitting over to the queen herself and looking over her, gaze fearful. “Y-you’re…”

“It’s…I…I am fine, Mayflower. None of it is my blood. Physically, I’m fine.”

Though she still looked worried, the younger princess relaxed some. Her sister, however, just looked ready to properly kill someone, her dark eyes ablaze with barely contained anger. Rather than focus her rage on anyone, however, the armored young woman turned and proceeded to pull the sword she’d thrown at the first attacker out of the wall where it had buried itself, blood dripping from the edge and wall after she freed it.

“I was careful how I threw the sword, May. I aimed so that she wouldn’t be hit.”

“It wasn’t _you_ I was worried who’d harmed her,” the younger replied, giving her sister a stern look. June sighed, shaking her head and cleaning the blood off her blade before signaling the handmaiden from earlier over to her.

“Please take this to be examined and fixed or sharpened if needed by the blacksmith right away. And inform her I’d like it back as soon as possible, but not to prioritize it if she has other orders.”

“Y-yes your highness. R-right away!”

The handmaiden rushed off again, the sword tucked into its sheath for safer carrying. Once sent away, June returned her attention to her mother, both girls having mostly forgotten their skeletal guests still standing in the doorway to the throne room.

“This is getting extremely out of hand. Six assassination attempts on all of us in a third as many months! And that’s only taking these past two months into account!” June growled, shaking her head as the fire ignited in her eyes again. “I need to have a serious talk with Javert about our security measures. _Again._ The kingdom will fall to ruin if we don’t figure out how this keeps happening and find a way to stop it.”

“I agree,” May added softly, clutching her hands to her chest worriedly. “You’re the only one out of the three of us who cannot defend herself, Mother! June is a one-girl army, I am skilled in hand-to-hand fighting, but you…we cannot protect you forever, Mother. Even now, we were almost too late. I’m…I’m scared, Mother.”

“As am I, Mayflower. As am I…” the queen sighed, shivering in June’s arms before straightening her spine with a strong, determined look in her eyes. “But there is not much we can do about it at this time. Right now, there are other matters to attend to.”

“But Mother –” both girls started, only to be silenced by the queen raising her hand with a slightly calm and collected expression. With that, she stepped forward, addressing the monster knights who sought an audience with the royal family.

“It is good to see you made it to our kingdom safely, sir knights. Your presence here already helps put my old heart at ease. But we can speak more of that later. First, allow me to formally welcome you to our kingdom – and extend an apology for the…events of the day. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I was not anticipating being attacked today, though I should have. But again, that is something to be spoken of later. Since you entered with my daughters, I can safely assume you have been introduced to the princesses, but allow me a moment of self-indulgence, if you will, so that I may introduce myself. I am the ruler of this kingdom, Queen Jane Skies.”

The knights introduced themselves to the queen one by one, all bowing politely as well. To all, she nodded, looking regal and composed, despite still being pale from the attack and covered in blood.

“It is a pleasure to have you all here in the kingdom, sir knights. Now, if you all will forgive an old woman, I’m going to excuse myself for a moment to change and wash the blood from my person. In the meantime…Juniper, I would like you to show them to The Passageway. Mayflower and I will meet all of you there, where we will continue this discussion. Mayflower, darling, if you would come with me to my chambers…you have such a good eye for my dresses and things…”

**_!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_ **

“Of course, Mother,” she replied with a warm smile, though it was the slightest bit forced. June saluted and bowed to the queen as the other two women departed, then turning to the skeletal knights.

“You’ll need to follow me on the way to The Passageway. Stay close – it’s alarmingly easy to get lost in this castle.”

The knights nodded (except the Fell clan knights, who scoffed) and followed her, the taller three knights having no trouble matching her brisk pace, since they were a head taller than the already long-legged princess. After navigating a series of long, winding, narrow corridors, the group finally made it to a room covered in maps, weapons, books, and various pieces of tactical or strategy-planning equipment. This was clearly the royal war room. However, the armored girl only stopped to turn to the knights after they all entered the room.

“The last one in, please shut the door behind you. Thank you. Now, I want to say before we get to The Passageway that…whatever business you have with us…it is clearly something of such vital importance, if the queen refused to speak of it where unwanted attentions could find it. I would like to know if any of you have any idea what this could be about.”

All the knights remained silent, though Sir Sans, Orange, and Red all shared confused glances over her comments. The girl sighed heavily, frowning.

“I wondered. But it would make sense that she would ask that the business be kept confidential, even if it meant asking your rulers to keep secrets from their representatives. Oh well. I’m sure Mother had her reasons. She always does. Now, if all of you would kindly take those cloth strips there and blindfold yourselves…”

Sir Papyrus and Blue both obeyed her request without hesitation, taking the black strips of cloth she pointed to and covering their eyes. After a moment, their brothers followed suit, shrugging as they did. The two from Fell clan did not, however, listen to her request, one crossing his arms over his chest, the other stuffing his hands into the pockets of his breeches. June gave them both deadpan looks, but upon seeing that they would not budge, she sighed and muttered, “I am so not in the mood for this…” as she pinched the bridge of her nose. When the two remained unmoved, she huffed and glared at them fiercely, twisting her features into a wicked snarl.

“Patience, gentlemen, is not my strong suit. _Do not make me ask again._ ”

At her fearsome and threatening tone, both Fell knights hurried to put on the blindfolds…though a red glow could be seen emanating off their partially-covered cheekbones. Choosing to ignore the oddity for now, she hummed a satisfied, “Thank you,” and turned to a framed map on the wall. With a quick click to the button situated just under the framed map, there was the soft sound of gears and machinery whirring to life, a hidden door sliding open for the princess.

“Alright. Now, I need you all to keep the blindfolds on for the moment. Do not remove them until you are instructed to do so. I will guide you through to The Passageway, so do not worry for losing your way or bumping into anything. The way is known only to we three members of the royal family, and unless the queen sees fit to change that, you all will have to wear those any time you enter or leave The Passageway. As I said before, whatever business you have with us must be of vital importance, so whatever it is, as long as it is said in The Passageway, you are not to repeat it outside The Passageway. Anything said or done in The Passageway _must_ remain there. The consequences for breaking this rule are dire, and the queen will surely have warned your rulers of such a thing before having them send you here. It is my understanding that they saw fit to send you anyway, believing you could be trusted. So I will repeat – _do not_ break any of the rules of The Passageway. As none have ever been broken before, I cannot guarantee what will happen to you if you do, but…I cannot be certain you will live to tell about it. Have I made everything perfectly clear, sir knights?”

All the knights nodded, though they all had mounting apprehension at the princess’s words. Satisfied with their answers, June stepped closer, taking the hand of the closest skeleton.

“Good. Now, I need all of you to join hands and walk single-file. This way, I don’t have to make multiple trips to get everyone, and no one gets lost or left behind. Alright? That means you, too, knights of Fell clan. Tell you what, give me just a moment…”

After adjusting the order the knights would follow her in, the ravenette hummed, content with her rearrangement. By putting the Fell knights last, it forced them to remain linked to the others if they wanted to keep up. And by making them follow after one of the more complacent skeletons, it made sure the one they were following wouldn’t drop their hands and pretend it was a mistake. She then again moved to the front of the line and took the lead knight’s hand, giving it a gentle tug as she began walking.

“Follow me, sir knights. This way.”

June carefully led the knights down a narrow sloped corridor, and once the corridor gave way to a wide open room and the decline leveled off, she pulled the knights one by one to various places, leaving them blindfolded. Once they were in place, she made the rounds around the knights and sat them down in the chairs awaiting them, then moved to her own place and stood, waiting. After a bit of silence, Sir Blue finally spoke up.

“LADY JUNE? ARE YOU STILL THERE?”

“Yes, Sir Blue. I’m here. I’m simply standing and not moving. Hence the silence.”

“AH. ARE WE ALLOWED TO TAKE OFF THE BLINDFOLDS YET?” he added after a pause.

“No, Sir Blue. Not yet. I understand the silence and waiting is boring, but please be patient. We cannot proceed until the queen arrives, as neither any of you, nor I, know what your purpose here is.”

“OF COURSE, LADY JUNE. I APOLOGIZE FOR MY IMPATIENCE!”

“It’s alright, Sir Blue,” the girl replied, the amusement in her tone betraying the small smile on her lips. “It was an innocent enough question. You have no reason to apologize.”

After a little while longer, there were two new sets of footsteps, which quickly stopped shortly after entering the room.

“I see Juniper has briefed you on the rules of The Passageway. I thank you, sir knights, for complying with our request for this, despite its odd nature. If you could bear with us for just a moment longer, there is one final thing we must ensure before we can speak of why you are here.”

The knights nodded towards the voice of the queen, then they heard two sets of footsteps, easily distinguishable from each other: the _clank-clunk_ of metal-on-metal and metal-on-stone as the armored princess moved about the room, and the soft _tip-tap-tip-tap_ of either the younger princess, or the queen herself, both wearing softer soled slippers. Together, the two sets of footsteps moved about the room, overlapping twice as they passed each other with whatever they were doing. Once the pair circled back in front of the skeletons, they stopped, the room falling silent once more.

“Visual confirmation: The Passageway is secure,” Princess June stated simply, her voice in exactly the same spot it had been earlier.

“Audio confirmation: The Passageway is secure,” Princess May chirped, her voice on the other side of where the queen’s voice had spoken from.

“Cross-examination confirmation: The Passageway is secure,” both girls intoned after a moment, their voices harmonizing beautifully as they spoke.

“The Passageway is officially declared secured, and thus safe for further business. Sir knights, you may now remove your blindfolds,” Queen Jane finally said, and all did not hesitate to pull the blindfolds from over their eyes.

With their sight restored, the skeletal knights saw that the room they had entered was circular in nature, with several open entrances, and made entirely of stone. There were no doors or windows, and the entire room was lit by torch sconces placed periodically around the room, along with an elegant chandelier above their heads, also lit by fire. All six knights found themselves seated in simple wooden chairs (though the chairs themselves were surprisingly comfortable), and there were three matching chairs behind the royal females, carved more elegantly than the ones they sat in. The queen and princesses, however, were still standing, all three facing the knights and looking as regal and powerful as their stations declared them to be.

Queen Jane smiled a little, her cool expression melting away as she stepped forward, the hem of the clean dress she wore rippling with the small motion.

“Allow me to extend my greatest joy to have you here, sir knights. As I mentioned before, it truly puts my heart at ease to have you here, and now that we are in The Passageway, I can safely elaborate upon that subject, and the subject of the attacks upon myself and my daughters. But I assume you all must have some questions of your own for the three of us. Please, good sir knights – feel free to ask us anything you like. We have a sort of…open door policy for all in our kingdom to take advantage of. Including visitors and esteemed guests, such as yourselves. If you have any questions, this is the time to voice them.”

As she spoke, Queen Jane turned and sat in the middle chair of the three behind the royals, her two daughters remaining standing and looking on, June with an aloof look on her face, and May with a soft and docile-looking neutral expression. The knights looked among themselves, and the first to stand and address the royal trio was Sir Sans, the clearly unspoken leader of the group of knights.

“your majesty…my guess is that all of us are wondering what this room is, and why the need for secrecy.”

“An understandable question, as well as a fair one. As previously stated, this is a room we call ‘The Passageway’. We call it this so that any who hear us speak of it will not know, nor assume what it actually is. In truth, The Passageway is a secret room we built here in the castle, without the knowledge of any of our subjects. It is literally an underground meeting room the three of us use to speak in confidence. As for the need for such measures of secrecy…it is both my belief, and the belief of Princess Juniper, that there is a spy somewhere in our court, alerting our enemies to our movements, habits, etcetera, so that they might find a…chink in our armor, if you will. So that we three, all of us being pro-monster, might be removed from power, in the hopes of instating someone who will not back the monsters as we have.”

“I first brought the matter to Mother’s attention some months ago, when the attacks upon the three of us were first beginning to establish a pattern that followed our own daily routes and habits. Upon noticing the fledgling trend, I followed up on it when we were able to safely capture some of the would-be assassins. Many of our attackers had managed to take their own lives before they could be interrogated, likely due to being ordered to do so should they be captured. However, upon questioning those that we managed to subdue without the loss of life, it was made clear to me that some outside human forces wished to see our family executed due to our views on monsters. Before I could further question them to learn the identity their employers, or how they were able to follow us with such precision, the attackers either found a way to kill themselves, or were murdered within our prisons. I knew enough, however, to alert Mother to the situation we now faced…still face, unfortunately, as we have not as of yet been able to out the rat in our midst. Hopefully, the two we caught today can provide us with more answers than their brethren have,” June added, her distant expression gaining a slightly more confident edge to it.

“I, however,” May stated, frowning a little at her sister, “do not believe that anyone in our court would sell us out like my mother and sister think. For years, we have trusted and been trusted by the very individuals we now suspect of foul play. And in all that time, they have never given us any reason to distrust them. But, in light of the attacks upon our lives, I can understand my family’s want for such precautions, which is why I only give voice to my objections here, where we are safe to express our individual opinions on the matter. And before you ask what I mean by that…I mean, that the attacks on our lives have terrified our people. They openly express fear for our lives, and concern for what will happen should one of the attacks be successful. In the face of this fear and worry by our people, we of the royal family need to stand as a united front for hope. If our people see us fighting or bickering amongst ourselves, it will ruin the sense of unity we have established, and send the kingdom into a state chaos far worse than anything these attacks have been able to do thus far. So, in the face of the people, we all agree there is something wrong in the court, and we are doing our best to remedy it before misfortune befalls any member of our family. Here, however, where we three are the only ones who know the goings-on, I am free to speak my mind. And it is my mind to believe that our people are still deserving our trust.”

She directed this last bit to her mother and sister, neither of whom cowed to the girl’s stern and displeased look.

“We have been over this, May,” June sighed, looking slightly frustrated. “It’s not that we don’t trust our own people. It’s that we are in a state of emergency, where even you and I would be subject to suspicion were we not being attacked ourselves. As it stands, the only people absolutely free of suspicion are we three currently under attack. As much as it pains me to say it, I even have to give a critical eye to those I have trusted since _I_ was a little girl, including Javert! It truly isn’t a matter of trust, but of security. If we ignore even one possible avenue, it could be our downfall, and the three of us would wind up dead, no matter what our intentions or who we thought we could trust. I honestly don’t know what more I can say, or how I can say it, that would get you to understand that.”

May frowned and shook her head, sighing as she looked away from her sister. There was a beat of tense silence before June looked away as well, the divide between the normally close sisters made plain in the quiet moment. The queen broke the silence with a soft sigh, shattering it as if it were glass.

“Do you, perhaps, have any other questions, sir knights?”

“i do, your majesty. my guess is that all of us are wondering…if your kingdom is in such a state of chaos and turmoil, why would you call for us? we are strangers to your lands, your problems…the only reason i could understand asking for outside help would be due to the current problem of not knowing whom among your court you can still trust,” Sir Orange pointed out, looking a little skeptical. “but even then, it does not yet make sense to me that you would call for the aid of monsters, rather than of your human supporters.”

“I called for the aid of monsters, Sir Orange, because I do not know who among my own human fellows I can trust. Monsters have proven themselves time and time again to be nothing but kind and trustworthy individuals. Humans, however, are another matter entirely. There are some like Mayflower: kind and sweet and every bit as trustworthy as any monster…as selfless and gentle and loving as humanity should be. Then there are those like Juniper: those of a more violent nature, whom have little reason to trust others, and retain a neutral stance towards the world…those who, despite this, still have a strong sense of kindness, love, loyalty, and morals to steer them away from a path of darkness and bloodshed. Then…there are the unfortunately better known humans who know nothing but fear, hatred, and all things evil and negative. The problem here is that these last type of individuals are not always the brutes they sound like. Sometimes, they are spies and all manner of subtler, more secret evils, and they do not hesitate to use any means necessary to get what they want. Including deception. Acting as if they favor monsters, or even only us specifically, in order to exact the unthinkable. In all my dealings with both humans and monsters, monsters were, without fail, more honest and fair with everything they did. I cannot say the same of most humans I know. Monsters have never tried to deceive us. In my experience, it is not in their nature. And it is because of these very reasons that I requested the best knights from all available monster kingdoms be sent to me for a special mission. You six are the first – and so far, only – ones to have responded to my summons.”

“you sent out a call to _every_ kingdom?” Sir Red barked incredulously. “why the hell –”

“LANGUAGE, SIR RED!!” interrupted very scandalized-looking Sir Blue and Papyrus.

“– would you go and do something like that? not every monster kingdom is all that you think it is, ya know. the more violent clans, like ours, are actually more likely to send knights your way just to find out your weaknesses and shit.”

“SIR RED!!” the two from before again protested, mortified by his lack of manners in front of the royal ladies. While May frowned slightly and shook her head with a soft sigh, the corners of June’s mouth were twitching in an attempt to hide a grin, and Jane gave something between a snort and a sigh, raising her hand for silence.

“It is quite alright, Sir Blue and Sir Papyrus. While we can appreciate the sentiment of trying to restrain the foul language of the Fell clan – something not totally unfamiliar to us, anyway – we have all heard far worse. Some of it uttered by my oldest daughter herself…”

June couldn’t contain a snicker at that, trying to maintain her composure by hiding her blood-red grin behind her shining metal hand. May rolled her eyes dramatically and sighed, not trying to hide her annoyance and displeasure over it.

“Surprisingly,” May added dryly, “though she is a princess, my sister swears like a sailor…when she can get away with it.”

June just shrugged, a faintly amused smile still on her lips.

“A reason I make such an excellent knight, regardless of my prowess in battle – I never attempt to hide who I truly am. And evidently, deep down, I’m no princess. In my heart of hearts, dear sister, it would seem I’m just a foul-mouthed temptress,” the older princess added, winking flirtatiously to her sister. The younger girl blushed, but laughed and shook her head all the same.

“Well, certainly no one has accused you of being pure or saintly!”

“True. I am certainly not you.”

The girls laughed and snorted, the strength of their bond really showing, despite their earlier tension. Seeing the sisters acting so carefree and true to themselves made their mother smile, and warmed the Souls of the knights. (Though the comments and behavior of the elder princess certainly caught the attentions of the knights from Fell.)

“At any rate,” the queen finally interjected, a fond smile accompanying the jovial tone in her voice, “to answer your questions, Sir Red…I was not expecting every monster kingdom to answer my initial plea, let alone actually agree to send their best knights to my kingdom on good faith. And though all have answered my first letters, many have declined to send their knights. It is a decision that I can respect and understand, so I did not attempt to press them. And though only a handful of kingdoms are left from all the ones I sent letters to, most of them have yet to answer my request for knights. As I previously stated, your three kingdoms are the only ones to have agreed to at least send you to us. And actually, yours is currently the only ‘violent’ monster clan to have answered my request for knights positively. One has not answered, and all the others denied my summons. So you need not worry of our being taken advantage of. But your concern is appreciated, Sir Red.”

The short, red-eyed skeleton blanched at the queen’s words, clearly intending to refute her comment about his being worried for their well-being, but Queen Jane quickly turned her attention to the group as a whole, another skeleton stepping forward.

“YOUR MAJESTY,” Sir Papyrus began, posing dramatically. “IF YOU DO NOT MIND MY BEING SO BOLD, I HAVE NOTICED THAT YOU HAVE YET TO TELL US WHY WE HAVE BEEN SUMMONED. AND I ALSO NOTICED YOUR WORD CHOICE A MOMENT AGO WAS…PECULIAR. YOU SAID THAT WE ARE THE ONLY ONES TO BE SENT TO YOU, DESPITE REQUESTING TO BORROW US FROM OUR KINGDOMS. WHICH LEADS ME TO BELIEVE THAT WHATEVER YOU ARE GOING TO ASK OF US, YOU WILL LET US DECIDE FOR OURSELVES IF WE WISH TO PLEDGE OURSELVES TO YOUR SERVICE UNTIL THIS MISSION IS COMPLETED. AM I MISTAKEN IN MY OBSERVATIONS, YOUR MAJESTY?”

All the other skeletons looked surprised to hear Sir Papyrus’ astute observations, but none of the royals were fazed, given that they did not know the knight as well as the others.

“You have a very keen eye for these things, it seems, Sir Papyrus. Your observations are entirely accurate, and I will first address your second question, as the first with have a lengthier answer. You are correct in assuming that I merely requested your presence, sir knights, and not an outright pledge for your aid. I am aware that what I will ask is not a task that most would relish taking, and I do not want to send any on this task that do not actually wish to perform the mission as required. Thus I am allowing any who are sent to me to choose for themselves if they will temporarily pledge their service to me for the sake of this mission.”

The gravity with which the queen spoke these words sent a chill through the room, causing all the skeletal knights to suppress shivers. Even the princesses glanced to each other, confused and worried. This wasn’t something their mother had consulted either of them on, so they had no idea what to say to the knights to prepare them. But what task could Queen Jane have for the monster knights that she wouldn’t trust to human knights, and was grave enough for her to allow the knights the freedom to choose if they want to help or not?

“Now, as to your first concern…” the queen continued, pausing not for effect, but to mentally prepare herself for what she was about to say. “You are right, in that I have been carefully avoiding mentioning why I have summoned you thus far. However, now that you are aware of our current state, I will ask this only once: knowing I ask this not as queen of these realms, but as an old woman and mother seeking peace of mind…will you hear my plea, sir knights?”

They all hesitated, but nodded. The strong, regal look on the queen’s face finally relaxed as she sighed, sagging in her chair as she allowed herself to stop being a queen for a moment. She gave them a grateful smile before sighing again and launching into her speech.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> June threw one of her swords at the attacker pinning down the girls' mom and injured him in order to stop him. A second attacker was waiting to ambush June from behind, but May got to that one first, and knocked him out while June held her remaining sword to the first attacker's throat. The two were removed after the girls' heroic rescue, but the Queen was still covered in her attacker's blood from the injury he received. June was angry about the flaw in their security, May and Jane (the girls' mother) were both scared for the queen's life. However, being the ever regal and formal queen she is, Queen Jane introduces herself and greets the knights. She then instructs June to take our skeletal knights to a place called "The Passageway" before taking May with her to change into a new dress...


	3. Blah, Blah, Blah, MAGIC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 3 of the intro...I really need to learn to better monitor my writing. ^^;

“As you are now aware, there have recently been many assassination attempts on both my life and the lives of my daughters,” Queen Jane began. “Being royalty, it is not a surprise that we have made enemies, nor that some of those enemies wish to see us dead. However, up until monsters returned to the surface, none had actually made a real move against us. And once our position with monsters was made clear, none had ever been so bold in their attempts. Since the attacks started, no one in the kingdom has had much peace. But in recent days, the attacks have increased in number and urgency. As the talks continue and more monsters come to the surface, our enemies are becoming more and more desperate. They want us out of the way before the talks can be concluded, and that timetable is slipping away from them every day we continue to draw breath and rule these lands. As I mentioned before, I was not – though I should have been – anticipating another attack today. However, despite the rather regrettable way you had to learn of the problems our kingdom currently faces, it does prove a point. Even in our own home, we are no longer safe.

“Now, by my saying even this much added to what knowledge you all currently have, it would be a safe assumption to say that you all now have a hunch as to what I am going to ask. If that hunch says that I will ask that you stay in our kingdom to protect us, then you are wrong. However, any believing that to have been a possibility, but most likely not what I was going to ask of you…you would be closer to being correct. As you all no doubt saw today, my daughters are perfectly capable of protecting themselves and each other…and myself, should it come to that. And while I will admit to being more of a damsel in distress than either of my daughters, I do have a secret weapon or two still up my sleeves that I will employ once my request is finally fulfilled.

“But back to the point I was making. What I will ask of you is not for you to stay here and add to our security forces. That would be far too simple a task, and it would not solve the problem at hand. No, what I ask of you six is this: your mission, should you choose to temporarily pledge your service to me, is to go into hiding with my daughters until the entire situation is resolved and it is safe for them to return home once more.”

“ _What?_ ” both princesses demanded, whirling on their mother with matching looks of shock. For her part, Jane didn’t even bat an eye, either at the girls’ reactions, or the similar surprised reactions from the skeleton knights.

“I have mulled over this problem since the attacks began, worried for what should happen if the kingdom lost all three of us. While the people look to all of us as a symbol of strength, unity, and hope, each of us has a different effect upon our people. I handle the major politics of running the kingdom, as well as several smaller day-to-day life tasks. And while the kingdom would mourn my loss, I am but a figurehead for the kingdom. I am just a politician. My daughters, however…if anything were to happen to Juniper, our kingdom’s safety and security would evaporate overnight. Juniper has the most brilliant mind and is more skilled in the ways of combat and battle than any princess before her. Though we have a head of our family’s order of knights – of which Juniper is a trained member – Juniper is my second in command when it comes to any sort of strategic, tactical, or military decision. When it comes to such things, none is wiser than she. And as for Mayflower…if Juniper and I are the minds behind the throne, then she is everything else. Face, heart, voice, hands, eyes, ears…Mayflower is well-connected to our people, and they look up to her. Out of the three of us, she is what brings a smile to their faces, and hope to their hearts. Our people know that as long as a fire burns bright within her, they shall never be hurting or wanting for anything – and if they do, it will not be for long. Juniper is known for her silver tongue, cunning, and battle prowess. Mayflower is known for her kindness and compassion. Take me out of the equation, and the only thing that is likely to suffer is our political standing. But remove either of them, and the kingdom loses its…spark. Its life. Its hope and heart.

“However, I knew that, no matter what solution could be thought of, as long as they remained with me in the public eye, they would continue to be targets for our family’s enemies. I thought long and hard to find a solution to the problem…until it occurred to me that if, perhaps, my daughters were no longer at home, but tucked away somewhere out of the public eye, they would both be infinitely safer than if they stayed here. But I also knew that my daughters wouldn’t be able to stay hidden for long if I sent them away on their own.” 

“Mother, you can’t do this!” June cried, outraged.

“This is madness, Mother!” May shouted, her words overlapping her sister’s. At the girls’ outbursts, the queen shot up from her chair, fury flashing in her eyes as she raised her voice above theirs in a call for silence.

“Do _not_ interrupt me, girls. You will have your chance to speak and question me yourselves in a moment. But until that moment is given to you, I ask – _politely_ – that you hold your tongues until I am done.”

“But Mother –” they said simultaneously, the harmony of their voices thrown off by their distress.

“Another outburst, and I will not be so polite and restrained. I may be a lady, but I am both your queen and your mother, and I am not afraid to stoop to whatever levels are needed to have you both behave. Now sit and be silent until you are addressed, girls. We will settle this in a moment.

“I apologize, sir knights, for the interruption,” Jane sighed as the girls took to the other two chairs – one sulking, the other just worried – as she settled back into her own. “Now, where was I…ah, yes, I recall. Details. Not knowing who else I could turn to, I drafted and sent letters myself, overseeing them as far as I could, secretly working out the details of my plan. Where I would send them that they would be unrecognized and safe; who I could trust with the information of their location; who I could ask for aid in keeping my girls hidden and out of the public eye. Once I had the location resolved, I turned to the problems of who to send with my daughters into hiding. As I was unsure who among other humans I could trust, I knew the best solution would be to turn to the monsters. And so I did. Just as I had before, I secretly drafted the letters and sent them myself, making sure they at least got out of my kingdom safely. And by your presence here, sir knights…it means my calls were answered, and my efforts rewarded.

“Now, sir knights, the most difficult part stares us in the face. Your answers could determine the fates of my daughters, as well as your own, for the foreseeable future. As I said before, I know this is not a task many would relish taking, and I will not force you to make a decision now. In fact, as you already know, I will not force you to do anything against your wills. I have left it up to you, and only you, to choose if you will help us or not. So, sir knights…is there anything I can clarify or any questions I can answer for you at this time? Or would you like time to think over what I have told and asked of you?”

The knights sat there, speechless, glancing among themselves, as if one of the others would have the answers they needed. Princess June continued to sulk angrily, the fires of her piercing dark green eyes lit anew as she observed her mother silently. Princess May looked between her mother and the knights, clearly only barely holding her tongue in her concern for the queen. Finally, after a long pause to think and confer in their respective pairs, they all turned back to the queen, Sir Sans, Orange, and Edge stepping forward to speak. Looking to each other in surprise, Sir Orange conceited to Sir Sans, allowing him to go first, while Sir Sans and Sir Edge seemed to silently be debating on their next move regarding the other. Finally, Sir Edge stepped back, joining Sir Orange in letting Sir Sans speak first.

“your majesty, i do have some more questions. this place you’d be sending them – and, should we accept, us – to…i assume you know that we’ll need full details of the location, terrain, locals, etcetera to properly protect them.”

“Of course, Sir Sans. I would not dream of asking anyone in this situation, let alone a group of trained knights, to fly blind for this. I already have the full details ready for all of you, should you accept. However, I wished to know first if you would be willing to take the task before I shared the details of the location where I will be hiding my daughters. I realize that isn’t a satisfactory answer, and prepared for as much – I will tell you a little about the location, so it might put you more at ease. As we live in such strange times, where kingdoms and knights and castles and such exist parallel to a world of high technology, I searched for a place that was more modern, as modern cities and places are more open to monsters than traditional kingdoms and territories. The one I found has the ideal ratio of monsters-to-humans so that whomever joins my daughters in hiding will not accidentally draw attention to them. And better, this city is known for monsters and humans coexisting peacefully, so you all would blend in even better. The city itself straddles the boundary of both a human government and a monster kingdom, so the mix of monsters and humans is unsurprising, and any issues within the city is handled by joint forces of that clan’s Royal Guard and human authorities. I can assure you that this location, while large and slightly crowded, will be very safe.”

Sir Sans nodded slowly, all the knights absorbing the knowledge quietly. While helpful, it didn’t give full details, as the queen had stated. She was evidently a rather skilled politician, then, for answering the question, yet managing not to fully answer it at the same time.

“your majesty,” Sir Orange said, now stepping forward himself, “what exactly does this task you’re asking of us entail? besides hiding in secret with the princesses.”

“This mission would require you to help my daughters hide in plain sight. For the duration of the mission, the girls would take on assumed identities, though if they also chose to take on assumed personas is up to them. You would need to memorize these assumed identities and/or personas and address them by those identities-slash-personas when in public. You yourselves would have to hide yourselves to the best of your abilities, as announcing that you are knights would surely give them away. However, your own hiding would not be required to be as extensive as my daughters’, since they are the intended targets. Whatever happens, however, there is one bit of cover you would all have to agree to: whatever identities or personas the girls adopt during this time…they would be nobles, or at least, those coming from a wealthy background. The girls’ behaviors and speech patterns would give them away if they did not adopt such a role. Your roles would be to pose as their servants, bodyguards, personal escorts, whatever case may be best. Again, I realize this is not ideal,” she added to the dubious faces of the knights, “but again, it is a role better suited than if the roles were reverse, or any of you placed as their equals.”

The knights seemed to think on it, then begrudgingly agreed. Queen Jane really _had_ thought this whole thing out.

“and how long would we have to consider this?” Sir Red asked skeptically. The queen smiled patiently to the Fell clan monster before sweeping her gaze over all of them.

“All of you will have as long as you would like. And you are free to stay in the kingdom for however long it takes – longer, if you feel so inclined after making your decision. For now, as my next steps depend on your answers, the choice is up to you.”

The two princesses looked ready to burst from holding their piece for so long, so all three sets of knights agreed that they would like some time to decide, and all three royal women stood, the knights quickly following their lead.

“Then I declare our business in The Passageway to be concluded for the moment. Sir knights, if you would again don the blindfolds while we prepare to leave The Passageway…”

All six complied, though the darkly-clad pair grumbled under their breath about it. With the blindfolds on, they heard the repeated _clank-clunk_ of June’s feet and the _tip-tap-tip-tap_ of May’s as they again circled the room, repeating the procedure of confirming the room to be secure.

“The Passageway is officially secure, and it is now safe to leave. But before I have Juniper guide you back the way you came, sir knights…when you have reached your decision and wish to inform us of it, come find any one of us and speak of The Passageway. We will know what you mean without alerting others, and we will again gather here to talk of these important matters. Until then, sir knights, please do be careful what you say, where you say it, and around whom you say it. You never know who may be watching or listening right now, and we cannot be too careful. That is all.”

“Yes, your majesty,” June practically growled from almost right in front of the group of knights, the shuffling and clanking of her armor indicating her movement as she saluted and bowed. Though the knights could hear the queen saying something to the younger princess, they were all too focused on the older princess carefully rearranging them again to walk in single file, hand in hand. Once completed, she sighed, took the hand of the lead knight, and gave it a gentle tug, like before.

“Follow me.”

Even in a seemingly foul mood, the elder ravenette was gentle and careful with the knights, betraying her softer nature under the tough and aloof exterior. Once back in the war room, she instructed them to remove their blindfolds and hand them over to her (though she just tossed them on an already cluttered desk – the exact spot the skeletons had found them in the first place, actually).

“If any of you need us for the next…however long this conversation takes, I will be joining my mother and sister either in the queen’s chambers, or back in The Passageway to continue our conversation from earlier. On behalf of the entire royal family, I insist you all make yourselves comfortable and at home. And we hope you enjoy your stay in our kingdom.”

With that, she marched briskly past the six skeletons and up to her mother’s bedroom. Once the three met there, they all took the secret path leading from the queen’s chambers back down to The Passageway, making sure it was secure before beginning the conversation.

“Mother, I really don’t think it’s wise to send us away. If ever you needed proof that you need us here, today would give you that proof!” May instantly started in, June nodding her head in agreement.

“Sending us off to god-knows-where with god-knows-who for god-knows-how-long won’t exactly put the kingdom at ease. After all, what are you going to tell the staff? The people? Our guards and knights?” June demanded herself, leaving her helmet upon her chair so that she could speak with her hands.

“Girls, girls…” the queen said softly, enough so that they both had to quiet down to hear her. “I already told you, I have a plan. I thought this through. Obviously, today was not well thought out. I will admit to that. However, that was partially because I was not sure who, if any, of the monsters would send their knights to us, and when. I only received word of these six’s coming yesterday, so I did not have time to prepare accordingly. But the rest of my plan for you two is well thought out. I promise you that. And it was my intention to tell everyone that the two of you would be going on a diplomatic trip with the knights to visit the monster kingdoms. And who better to protect two human princesses than monster knights? Even our own guards would agree to that, however begrudgingly.”

“But we’re not…you may be a human queen, Mother,” June spat, frustrated, “but we are not plain human princesses. We are mages, for god’s sake! We can protect and defend ourselves! You admitted as much to the knights, and pointed out that we didn’t actually need their protection!”

“She’s right. If the knights weren’t wary of us before, they most certainly are now. And worse, if you send us away, who will protect you?”

“I have a secret weapon, remember? Though at least one of them won’t be very keen on it, I know of a pair of mages who will also be capable of protecting me, and have already sworn themselves to my service when I call upon them. Which will only happen after I’ve made sure you two are safely tucked away where our enemies cannot reach you.”

“If you’re going to send us away, why with guards we don’t actually need? And why didn’t you ever consult us on this?” June cried, unable to contain her anger. Jane’s frustration matched hers, making the smaller woman raise her voice to match June’s.

“Because I know you, dammit! If I sent the two of you away on your own, you would undoubtedly find some way to accidentally expose yourselves. Mayflower’s kindness would be her undoing, and you are so hot tempered and hot blooded that you couldn’t resist any challenge or fight when presented to you. Your fighting skills are unique, Juniper. The only other person who has anything like it is Mayflower, and either of you using those skills – or, god forbid, your magic and powers – would expose you both in a heartbeat. Then the whole point of it all is wasted. I couldn’t send our family’s knights or any guards with you because we have no guards to spare, and our family’s knights would be too easily recognized if they went with you. We don’t know who we can trust even inside our borders, let alone outside them, so any other human kingdoms or governments were out. The only option left was the monsters. Granted, not all of them are perfect candidates for this, but what other choice did I have? It’s not like we can be picky when we can use all the help we can get right now. As for why I didn’t consult you, it’s because of this very reaction. I knew neither of you would be willing to leave my side once you knew of my plan, so I did everything I could to keep it hidden, even from you. I had to. You weren’t leaving me any other choice.”

“You could have at least asked us and gauged our reactions first, Mother!” May protested, more hurt than angry.

“And made you both suspicious of my intentions and activities? What would have been the point in that, other than to breed distrust between each other? Mayflower, as you so eloquently put it, we need to stand before all else as a unified front, and we cannot even pretend to do so if there is no trust in us.”

“And that doesn’t sound the least bit hypocritical, since you were keeping this a secret from us for _months?_ ” June pointed out, lowering her voice from the shout it had been.

“I am aware of how it sounds,” Jane snapped, sighing a second later. “But what else could I do? As I said, I knew you both would oppose this the second you found out about it. And look at exactly what’s happening right now. You girls left me no choice but to keep you in the dark until I had everything settled. Or, as much as I could settle without your aid.”

The girls fell silent, their arguments clearly having already been thought of and addressed long beforehand. When the only protest left for them was the worried and upset looks on their faces, Queen Jane sighed, taking one of her daughters’ hands in both of her own.

“Look, girls…I recognize that you don’t like this. You have many reservations and concerns. Some of which involve my safety, others protesting that I am forcing this upon you without taking your wishes into consideration. And for the latter, I am sorry. As the rulers and royalty of this kingdom, we have a duty to our people above our own needs, wants, and wishes. You both know this, and have carried out your duties as princesses without complaint for years. And I realize this is a bit much to ask of you, but I need you both to again put aside your own desires…for the good of the kingdom. The good of our people. Having you both protected and safe should something befall me is the best way to safeguard the kingdom from being taken over by those who oppose our views on monsters. I know it isn’t fair, and I truly wish that there was something else I could do. As your mother, I wish I didn’t have to send you away. You’re my daughters, and I love you both very much. But also as your mother, I need to know you’ll be safe. After all…you’re not little girls anymore. This is the only way your old mother knows how to still protect you. I just hope it’s not the last effort I make in that regard.”

“Don’t talk like that, Mother…” May murmured, squeezing Jane’s hand with tears in her eyes. “We’ll see you again after this. Just you watch. This will all blow over, and we’ll come home, and we’ll all live happily ever after…or as close as we can get.”

Jane smiled at her innocent and optimistic child and squeezed her hand back, tears of her own threatening to spill. June also gingerly tightened her grip on the queen’s hand, not wanting to hurt the older woman while she still wore her armor.

“We won’t let you down, Mother. We love you, too.”

While not great at emotional moments, she knew that sometimes, the simplest thing to say was the best. And Jane knew it, too, holding June’s hand hard so she could feel it through her armor. Finally, the queen pulled her daughters in for a hug, both of whom reciprocated willingly. Once the moment was over and the air finally cleared, they went about declaring The Passageway safe and all exiting back to the Queen’s chambers, where they all scattered back to their daily tasks and duties, awaiting word from the six skeletal knights.

While the queen and princesses were having their heart-to-heart, each set of brothers had found a location to split off to so that they could speak about the choice. With the choice of what to do being left entirely up to them, it was a thing that needed much discussion. Eventually, however, all three sets of knights came to their decisions and sought out a member of the royal trio that very day, giving the signal that they were ready. All were lead back through the war room, The Passageway made secure, and when their blindfolds were removed, the six were surprised to see each other.

“It seems you all made you decisions quickly. I thank you for that, sir knights,” the queen smiled knowingly, having a hunch something like this might happen. “Now, I will call upon one of each clan to step forward and speak, and you will declare your answer. First, Sir Sans. What is your answer to our plea?”

“your majesty…my brother and i have decided to lend you our aid and services. use us however you see fit,” he bowed, his brother bowing low behind him to the queen. She smiled, though it was clearly a controlled reaction from the way she blinked first, then sighed as she smiled, relaxing into it.

“Thank you, Sir Sans and Sir Papyrus. Already, a great weight has lifted off of me to hear your answer. Now I eagerly await the answers of your fellows. Sir Blue, you are next. What is your answer to our plea?”

“YOUR MAJESTY, FOR THE SUPPORT, KINDNESS, AND FRIENDSHIP YOU HAVE SO FREELY EXTENDED TO US MONSTERS, MY BROTHER AND I HAVE DECIDED TO RETURN THE FAVOR! WE WILL GLADLY PLEDGE OUR SERVICES TO YOU, HOWEVER TEMORARY, SO THAT YOU MAY CONTINUE TO BE SO KIND AND JUST TO ALL!! MWEH-HEH-HEH!!!”

The smallest knight struck a proud pose, his cape fluttering in a non-existent breeze, before he and his brother both bowed to the queen. Her smile grew, though again, it was a controlled reaction.

“Wonderful. Thank you, Sir Blue and Sir Orange. I am very pleased to have you on board. Finally, Sir Red. What is your answer to our plea?”

There was a pause as Sir Red shuffled forward, clearly expecting her to call his brother. He was sweating and nervous, but sucked in a breath to steady himself and straightened his spine, stretching to his full height.

“your majesty…we of the fell clan have chosen to…give you our full cooperation,” he finally spat out, the last of it all in a rush, with the other skeletons – his brother included – staring at him in surprise. Oblivious to how strange this was, the queen clapped her hands gleefully, unable to restrain her grin any longer.

“Oh, this is splendid! Thank you, Sir Red and Sir Edge, for pledging to me as well. All of you…all of you have chosen to heed our call…this is more than I had dared hope for. Thank you. All of you. This means so much to me, and I truly cannot thank you enough for agreeing to this. Now we can begin the next phase of the plan – disguising you and actually getting you to the location safely, for starters.”

The next several hours were spent going over details and discussing the location they would be hiding out in. The city she’d first mentioned was actually a good distance from the kingdom…and in the foothills of a mountain range not far from where the Patch clan resided. Well, that certainly worked in their favor. They would be staying in a relatively secluded mansion in a quiet, upscale neighborhood. Strategically speaking, this was good as well, and though it was clear that this was the first time Princess June was seeing or hearing any of this, she nodded along with the skeletons, showing her approval of her mother’s choices.

Once they had arrived, they would purchase new clothes and things for their new roles and identities, so they would better blend in. After all, staying in armor and royal attire all the time would give them away. (Princess May seemed the most excited by the prospect of a new wardrobe.) And once they’d settled in, they would send word through the rulers of the Patch clan that everything was going as according to plan. If they needed or wanted to write to her from then on, they were to pass it along through the Patch clan to ensure their mother got the letters. She would, in return, pass along letters back through them as well, ensuring that the family wasn’t totally cut off from each other. And it would be through this method that she would let the girls know when it was safe to return to their kingdom.

Then Princess May turned to her mother, a thoughtful look on her face.

“What if more knights come to you, pledging their aid, when we have already been sent away?”

“I had already thought of that. I would brief them as I have our guests here, and should they pledge themselves to us, then I will tell them everything they need to know and send them along to you, bearing a magical marker stating that I have sent them. This way, you know that any who come to your doorstep without the mark will not be genuine.”

The girls nodded, understanding, though this confused the knights. Just how was she planning on doing that, exactly…?

“I happen to have a pair of mages at my disposal whom have already pledged their services to me for when the girls leave. I have discussed this at length with them, and they have not only agreed to protecting me, should I need it, but also to craft the magic markers for the knights I send, should the need arise.”

They seemed a bit put off by the thought of mages protecting the queen in the absence of the princesses, but the six skeletons didn’t comment on it further. It was most certainly not the place of a knight to tell a queen how to handle her business.

“And this location is large enough to accommodate more knights, if need be?” June asked, point blank. The queen nodded.

“I ensured it would be large enough to fit you both, along with rooms for every pair of knights from each known monster kingdom. And as I already know there will be many kingdoms not joining the cause, there will be an excess of rooms to use as you see fit.”

Both girls got thoughtful looks on their faces and smiled, already envisioning what they would use the extra rooms for.

All in all, everything seemed pretty solid. She really had thought of just about everything.

“so when do we leave?” Sir Red asked, voicing the last question on everyone’s minds.

“As soon as all eight of you are ready and able. Girls, there will be little you’ll need to pack, but this would be the time to do it. Sir knights. I assume you have most of what you’ll need already for such a journey?”

The skeletons nodded, not really interested in making a trip back to their own kingdoms in order to get more supplies anyway. The queen bowed her head in understanding. “Good. Then I will begin drafting letters to your royalty immediately to inform them of your decisions. I will send them letters informing them of your wellbeing and the progress of the mission periodically, and should you need to send them letters yourselves, I would suggest utilizing either the method we have spoken of for the girls, or an alternate one, if you know of a better way.”

The knights nodded, all inwardly cringing. They hadn’t thought about needing to tell the leaders of their clans about the choice they’d made, or that they’d be absent for an unknown amount of time. Again, Queen Jane was a step ahead of them, and she smiled faintly to them when they did not speak up.

“Now, there are only a couple more things to discuss before we are finished here. Transportation being one of them.”

The plan there was that they would travel on horseback through the more medieval areas, and once they reached the edge of the more advanced territories, they would switch to cars. This way, no matter where they were, they would be less conspicuous. However, once they had safely gotten to the next kingdom over from theirs, the girls would need to stop and disguise themselves, so not to be easily identified while they traveled to safer lands. To this, the knights could agree. Riding out in the open on horseback with a pair of princesses in full garb? They’d be spotted in a second.

With that decided, the knights inquired about the last order of business. After all, what was left for them to discuss? Just about everything had been covered at this point. But the queen gave them a soft, knowing smile, and turned to her daughters.

“Girls? I do believe a demonstration is in order. They already know of your fighting prowess. But it should also be known to your protectors what else they can expect to be dealing with during their stay with you.”

The princesses hesitated, sharing a concerned glance before addressing their mother.

“I…not to question your judgement, Mother,” May began gently, “as I believe it would be wrong to keep such a thing from them, but…it that…wise?”

“She’s right,” June chimed in, her voice much more calm and sure than her soft-spoken sister. “There is the chance that showing them what we are truly capable of will scare them and change their minds.”

Queen Jane nodded, evidently having thought of that and decided it was worth that risk. The princesses shared another worried glance to each other, then both sighed, stepping before the knights as the satisfied queen sat down.

“Sir knights…” June started slowly, the hesitation in her speech offset by the confidence with which she spoke. “We have not been entirely forthcoming with you about ourselves.”

“You see, sir knights, we…well, humans have a tendency to fear what they don’t understand, and…well, mages are something they don’t understand,” May pointed out, playing nervously with the tail of her dark braid. “And this is important because…we are mages. My sister and I. Our mother is not, however, which is part of why we worry so greatly for her safety. She truly has no means to defend herself. We, however, have many options at our disposal.”

“As you saw when we stopped the assassins earlier today, we have much in the way of physical prowess to contend with. But, should our own physical abilities fail us, we also have magic we can access, as well as some…extra powers on the side.”

“Please, allow us to show you,” May sighed, both sisters readying themselves to draw upon their magic.

Princess May crossed her hands over her chest and closed her eyes, breathing deeply before reaching for the well of power she knew lay within her Soul. Once she had tapped into it, her eyes shot open, the ice-blue hues now eclipsed by a dramatic flash of bright emerald green and rich, vivid purple. She then flicked her hands back down to her sides and out with a little flourish as the light of her magic burst over her hands as well, the almost lazy and mist-like essence of it spiraling slowly away from her.

Princess June widened her stance and closed her eyes as well, taking a deep breath of her own before reaching. With the power of her Soul flowing through her veins, she instinctively clenched her fists, feeling the magic rush to her hands first. The burst of warm orange and deep blue was like a fire igniting, and when her eyes snapped open, the matching shades of orange and blue that took over her normally dark green eyes behaved like fire, licking up her armored arms and the sides of her face.

Both princesses relaxed once they had conjured their magic, yet all the knights could only stare in shock at even just the lightshow the girls had just given them. But they were not done yet.

“As you can see, my magic consists of orange and blue,” June explained. “These function much like orange monster attacks and blue gravity magic. Like monster’s gravity magic, my blue magic allows me to manipulate the gravity of things and people, though living things are generally much easier than inanimate objects. This is because everything living has a Soul, or some kind of life energy like it, that the magic can latch on to in order to move it. With inanimate objects, the entire item must be focused on, putting a higher strain on the blue magic user. And like with a monster’s orange magic attacks, my own orange magic needs to have the subject moving if they do not wish to take damage. Also like a monster’s attacks, my orange magic is shaped according to who I am and my personality. Because of this fact…”

June paused as she snapped the fingers of her hand encased in fiery orange magic, two sparking balls of orange magic appearing by her hands. When she grabbed them, they elongated in her hands to form sparking, shimmering, wicked-looking swords, far too big to be held one-handed like she was doing.

“They are shaped like claymores. Personally, I’m not sure why my magic forms into a type of two-handed sword when I can wield one in each hand, but I have learned not to question it over the years. Magic is such a strange thing, after all.”

May giggled sweetly, covering her smile daintily with her green-coated hand, before turning back to the knights herself.

“Where my sister’s magic is orange and blue, mine is, as you can see, green and purple. Both behave as monster magic does, in both aspects of the magic’s type. So, like monster magic, my purple can both trap targets and poison them. Which one I’m using is determined by the shape of the magic. If it looks like a butterfly, I’m using poison. If it’s more like a vine or tree root, then I am attempting to trap. The green is similar to that, in that I possess both shields and healing. My shields tend to look like bubbles, and when released into the open…”

May brought her green hand to her lips and blew softly over her palm, as if to blow away something. From this action, a spray of glowing green insects flew from her hand towards the knights, causing them to jump. She giggled and smiled sweetly, catching one of the glowing bugs on her finger.

“My healing looks like fireflies! I honestly have no idea why my magic emulates nature and insect life, but I can’t say I can complain. After all, my magic mimics such gentle and beautiful things…”

With a softer dainty giggle and a sigh, she ceased to draw upon her magic, the healing bugs and light she gave off fading as one. June did the same, dropping the swords she still held as they vanished from her hands, just like the fire of her magic. The shocked knights had no idea how to react to this. But somehow, the princesses _still_ weren’t done.

“Furthermore,” May continued, “June mentioned our…side abilities. Mine are enhanced strength and speed, which means I am very, very strong and very, very fast.”

“Mine is a little more complicated, unfortunately. Anything marked upon my skin, be it a drawing or word in ink, or a scratch that vaguely resembles something, I can manipulate it into a power. That essentially means I am capable of having any power I want…within reason. Every power and ability is limited in some way. For example, if I had enhanced strength, like May, I wouldn’t be as strong as she is. Though we have yet to find a limit to her strength…” June added with a look to her sister, who fidgeted and laughed sheepishly.

“Anyway…each of our side abilities only draws on a fraction of our magic, so we can use them without having to manifest it the way we did a moment ago. And we have discovered that using our abilities around monsters actually doesn’t draw their attention, as long as they don’t see us using them. Evidently, our abilities don’t draw enough magic to actually be sensed by monsters.”

“And lastly, there is one more thing granted to us as mages that you are already aware of.”

The monsters looked at them incredulously, as if to contradict June’s statement. But both gave small, knowing smiles.

“There was a reason you all were blindfolded when we brought you here,” June pointed out.

“And a reason you were told to keep the blindfolds on until The Passageway was secured,” May added, her smile growing a little.

“This is because of this last gift granted to us. For some reason, certain mages are able to see and/or hear Souls. It’s not a common ability, but it evidently runs in the family or something, because where I can see Souls, but not hear them…”

“I can _hear_ Souls, but not _see_ them,” the younger sister concluded. “I can hear the music of one’s Soul, and filter through, or completely tune out any sounds that I already recognize. This allows me to know if there is anyone around who shouldn’t be when we enter The Passageway.”

“It takes a bit of effort on my part, but with a little concentration, I can see the colors of one’s Soul, surrounding them like an aura. This gives me a visual confirmation and location of anyone who might be here that shouldn’t be. Funny enough, it works through walls and at a distance, too, if I concentrate hard enough.”

“The same goes for me. I can hear Souls at almost any distance, no matter what may stand in my way, if I concentrate hard enough. It also allows me to locate by sound alone where people are.”

The six skeletons were blown away. That explained why security down in The Passageway was so lax for a secret meeting room. The princesses were the security. It also explained how they were such a powerful kingdom for being so peaceful. Not even other human kingdoms could match the threat of humans with magic. Especially when two of them were the ruling royalty. It made the monsters wonder about the two mages that were going to protect the queen with the princesses gone. Were they just as strong as the girls? If so, that meant this kingdom had a minimum of four powerful mages living in secret in its borders. Well, they assumed in secret. Was it a secret?

“ah…begging your pardon, your highnesses and your majesty, but…do…your people know of this, or…?”

“No, they do not,” Jane answered with a frown and a small sigh. “When it was first discovered that June had been gifted with magic, even I was not aware. She had gone to one of the mages already living in secret within our walls for guidance. But when I did find out, I made it very clear that she was not to use her magic – or May, hers, once she came into it as well – unless in a dire emergency, and they had no other choice. We rule over our kingdom and our subjects with love, kindness, peace, and respect. To know that our family possesses magic in equal strength to that of monsters, and has since long before monsters ever returned to the surface…it would frighten our people, and cause them to distrust us. And we do not wish to rule our subjects by holding their fear over them.”

All the knights looked to the three royals with a mixed bag of awe, surprise, and respect, but Sir Blue and Sir Papyrus were the most obvious about it, with literal stars in Sir Blueberry’s eye-lights, and orange sparkles in Sir Papyrus’ eye sockets.

“THAT IS SO NOBLE OF YOU, YOUR MAJESTY!” Sir Blue breathed, a baby blue glow washing over his cheekbones. “A-AND OF YOU, TOO, YOUR HIGHNESSES!!”

May giggled lightly, her pale cheeks tinting pink at the compliment. June just smirked and shrugged nonchalantly. Queen Jane laughed, like May, but did not blush, taking it far more gracefully.

“Thank you, Sir Blue. But it is only the right thing to do.”

“REGARDLESS, YOUR MAJESTY! IT IS…NOT OFTEN WE GET THE CHANCE TO ENCOUNTER HUMANS OF THE SAME MORAL QUALITY AS YOURSELVES. SO IT IS VERY NICE TO SEE THOSE IN SUCH HIGH POSITIONS OF POWER DOING SUCH GOOD!! NYEH-HEH-HEH!!”

“Oh…well, that is very sweet, Sir Papyrus. Thank you,” Jane replied, blushing a little this time, while May blushed harder herself, embarrassed by the praise. June just shrugged it off, but the faintest hint of color could be seen on her cheeks if they looked closely. The literal white knight grinned widely, laughing his signature laugh some more while the good mood prevailed.

“IF WE ARE DONE HERE, CAN WE PLEASE LEAVE SO THE PRINCESSES MAY PACK AND WE CAN BE ON OUR WAY?” Sir Edge asked, irritated. That sobered the group, and the two girls started to motion for the knights to blindfold themselves again when the queen raised her hand to halt them.

“Now that the knights are aware of your abilities, girls, I see no reason for them to blindfold themselves. They are allowed to know the ways of The Passageway.”

June hesitated, but May grinned widely, and both girls agreed. They then positioned themselves on opposite sides of the room, and the two ravenettes began to channel their magic again, May gaining a look of concentration with her eyes firmly closed. June, however, opened her eyes dramatically, the irises of her eyes shifting to the blue and orange of her magic. The two began their synchronized walk around the room, the skeletons watching them intently. Once they finished their sweep, the girls blinked away their magic, returning to their mother’s side.

“Visual confirmation: The Passageway is secure,” June said, her voice as calm and cool as ever.

“Audio confirmation: The Passageway is secure,” May chirped confidently. Then they turned to each other, taking a step each so that they met in the middle. June took a deep breath, and both girls’ eyes fluttered closed as June raised her hands and put them on either side of her sister’s head, hovering near her temples. There was a brief pause, then June dropped her hands to her sides again and the princesses’ eyes opened, both stepping back.

“Cross-examination confirmation: The Passageway is secure,” they said simultaneously, their harmony as pretty as ever.

“Then I declare our business in The Passageway to be concluded. I shall tend to practicing the story I shall give our people for your absence, girls, and drafting those letters to your rulers, sir knights. As I am not sure how long this will take, I only ask that you do not leave the castle grounds, so that someone may find you when the girls are ready to leave. That is all.”

“Yes, your majesty,” both princesses replied, May curtseying and June saluting before bowing. Jane nodded to both her daughters, then the knights as she turned around and headed towards one of the five doorways leading out of the chamber. May flashed the knights a smile and a giggle as she practically skipped towards a different exit, with June waving for the knights’ attention a moment later.

“You all will be following me again. This way,” she said beckoning them after her. The knights obeyed, observing the twists and turns the armored princess took as they wound through the tight corridor that lead them back to…what appeared to be a dead end. The girl then pressed a peculiarly shaped stone on the wall, and the same sound of gears whirring and stone grinding revealed the secret door. Once the knights had been ushered through the door, the green-eyed princess followed and pressed the button hidden behind the framed map, sealing the door again.

“your highness? er, lady june?” Sir Sans corrected when she gave him a hard look. “if there are five entry points into the passageway, and this one leads to the war room, where are the other four?”

“You would do well to lower your voice when you speak of such things, Sir Sans,” she replied, her voice barely above a whisper. “I will answer your question, however. The other entrances are in the library, and all three of our personal chambers.”

He nodded and made a noise of understanding, the other skeletons nodding along with him. After that, Princess June bid them farewell to do her own packing, knowing her sister would be doing the same.

Once the princesses’ minimal packing was done, they gathered the knights and alerted the queen. When all had been set with horses and were ready to depart, the queen told them that she had spread their story and would likely have to wade through the people giving the princesses well wishes on their journey. As she walked alongside the mounted knights and young royals, she was proven right. Once they made it to the edge of town, Queen Jane bid her daughters one last emotional farewell, and saw the eight of them off.


	4. Home Away From Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And part 4 of the intro. Phew! Oh, and a big thank you to my wonderful beta (and sometimes co-author) Book_Warrior7. She is always a huge help with ideas, and the description of the interior of the mansion was all her. Let's give the lovely some love!

After a long week of travel, the six knights and two princesses made it to the town they were to stay in. Once they arrived, however, their cars were stopped by a pair of skeletons waiting for them.

“i take it you all are the travelling knights and princesses we’re expecting?” asked one, his lone yellow eye scanning over the group assembled in the first car (being the Fell knights, Sir Sans, and Princess June). The princess in the car frowned at the new skeleton with a look that said, “Say that a little louder, why don’t you?”

“And you’re a knight from Patch clan?” she replied, to which he grimaced.

“more or less. me and my bro are gonna lead you around while you guys get acclimated to the city, but after that, we’re only gonna pop in as needed. we’ll be in that car over there. try to keep up.”

The driver rolled up the window as he walked away, his brother trailing after a moment with a polite wave to their car.

With the new set of knights in the lead, the three cars first went to one of the local malls, since all eight of them needed new clothes. Cloaks, dresses, armor, and other medieval wear wouldn’t exactly help them blend in in this highly modern city, after all.

It was relatively easy for the eight to find new wardrobes, though the princesses by far bought the most clothing out of all of them. Then the girls spoke to each other and headed to another store, only stopping when standing in the doorway, turning back to their six skeletal companions. (The Patch clan two had decided to wait on a bench when they realized where the sisters were headed.)

“We don’t need your help in here,” Princess June said flatly, stopping the knights from entering the store. They all looked at the girls in confusion.

“WHY NOT?” Sir Papyrus asked innocently, and May blushed, glancing to her sister. The older ravenette shared her look, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips in amusement. She simply pointed up to the store’s sign, which read, “Victoria’s Secret.” This, however, didn’t seem to deter at least half the knights, what could have been blushes forming on the cheekbones of the other three.

“I DO NOT UNDERSTAND. WHO IS THIS ‘VICTORIA’ AND WHAT IS HER SECRET? AND WHY WOULD THAT STOP US FROM ENTERING THE STORE?” Sir Edge asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest. May began giggling, blushing more, while June just snickered for a moment before regaining her composure.

“Ah, well, you see…” May started, but couldn’t stop her giggling long enough to form a proper answer. June rolled her eyes with a sigh, fixing her gaze upon the three knights who didn’t seem to understand.

“To be blunt…there is no ‘Victoria’, but if she did exist, her secret would have something to do with ladies’ undergarments and lingerie.”

The resulting splashes of color across all the knights’ faces made both girls laugh as the six scurried over to wait with the other two skeletons.

Once finished in the store, they finally made their way over to the house they would be occupying during their stay. Which turned out to be big enough that it was classified as a small castle, not a mansion.

“welp, here we are. home sweet home for however long this takes,” the tall yellow eyed skeleton said as he leaned against his car, the travelers piling out of theirs.

“Oh, goodness…Mother did say it would be rather large, but I wasn’t expecting…” May breathed, wide-eyed. June nodded, though she looked slightly less impressed than her sister, and more just surprised.

“We Hope It Is To Your Liking,” the first one’s brother, an impossibly tall skeleton with green eyes, chimed in with a polite smile. May gave him a beaming grin in return.

“Well, we should see the rest of it before we decide, but I think it’s wonderful already!” she declared. June chuckled, and the tallest knight smiled back with almost as much enthusiasm as May.

With that, they all started the walk up to the massive building, which looked plenty big from the outside. Upon entering, they got an idea of just how much space there was. The entrance lead to a large foyer, which branched off into other halls on both the first and second floors. The floors were a polished, expresso brown wood; the walls classic stone bricks, made from a dark gray cobblestone, with wooden accents to match the floors. From the outside, the place had the illusion of being dimly lit, but to the contrary, natural light flooded in from the decently sized windows that lined the outside walls. And though it appeared to be an older castle that had been renovated and refurbished, someone had taken the time to install electric lights as well, with elegant iron light fixtures scattered about.

“Goodness…whoever did all this really loved their work,” May commented as they moved a little further in, her sister humming in agreement.

“All the dark colors make it feel much more sophisticated than a lighter wood or stone. Very nice for someone rich, or coming from noble birth,” the elder added, with an agreeing nod from the younger. “Shall we explore the rest and claim our rooms?”

May’s ice-blue eyes lit up with excitement, practically bouncing in her glee.

“Let’s!”

With that, the younger princess darted off, her long hair flying out behind her as she made a break for the stairs. The older ravenette chuckled and looked after her fondly, watching her flit this way and that as she looked around. June just took her time, strolling and really drinking in the experience. When she finally climbed the stairs, June found several of the doors on the second floor open, as May would forget to shut them in her excited exploration. A good chunk, it turned out, were bedrooms, each of them having been obviously inspected by the younger sister. Once she caught up to May, June found her sitting in the window seat of the bedroom, curled up and looking out at the view. A soft knock on the doorway drew the blue-eyed princess’s attention to her sister.

“Found the one you want?”

May smiled warmly, giving a firm nod before returning her gaze outside the window.

“The view from here is incredible. The angle over the grounds from this window is…picturesque,” May sighed in contentment, resting her cheek gently against the glass. “And you can even see the pool, garden, and greenhouse from here.”

“Really? Oh, whoa…Mother really pulled out all the stops, didn’t she?” June murmured when she realized her sister was right. May hummed softly in agreement.

“She would only want the best for us, after all…”

The pair stood quietly for a bit, just letting the moment be as everything about their location and situation finally seemed to sink in. The mood grew somber, and finally, June sighed and wrapped her arms around her little sister, who returned the gesture with gentle hands on her arms.

“Hard to believe this is really happening. Completely uprooted for our own safety, when she’s the one who needs the protection.”

“I know. Do you think she’ll be alright without us?”

“I’m sure of it. I had Mother come and speak to me about these other mages she’s bringing in to protect her in our absence. You recall the tattoo artist, Lady Celestial, and her son Mark?”

“Yes. They were the ones who trained us and thought us how to harness our powers in the first place.”

“They are the ones she intends to bring on. And in truth, there are none I would trust more than they to protect Mother. As far as our human connections go, that is.”

“Truth. They are very trustworthy. I hope they are able to repair the information leak in our court better than we were.”

June hummed in agreement, the sisters continuing to find comfort in the other’s touch for a moment longer before June sighed and let go, holding her hand out to the younger girl.

“Come, sister. You have such a good eye – help me find a room from which I will have a good view of the stars and the sky.”

May smiled, taking her sister’s hand and getting up from the window seat.

“With pleasure, my dear sister.”

After leaving one of May’s bags in the room to mark it as claimed, the pair set off to find a bedroom for the elder sister. They ended up finding an acceptable room on the top floor of one of the towers, also with a window seat. June left one of her own bags in that room to claim it before the two set off on other explorations, set on claiming some of the other rooms for other uses.

While the princesses explored and further bonded, the six knights scattered themselves, spreading out to look around and claim rooms as well. To no one’s surprise, each set of brothers picked adjacent bedrooms on the second floor, each one leaving a bag of their own to claim the space as theirs. (A couple times, though, they would almost get bowled over by the more excitable princess as she dashed about, looking at all the different rooms.)

June made her way around much more calmly, claiming four other rooms that weren’t already bedrooms. May, however, really only claimed one other room, declaring it to be her “studio”. The skeletons weren’t sure what she meant by that, as June also had a “studio”, but the two rooms were clearly for vastly different purposes. May’s studio had the largest windows in the house, as well as the most floor space. June’s studio, however, was smaller, but had more storage space and windows. The larger rooms that June claimed were going to be training rooms, she explained when asked. And the fourth room she claimed?

“My workshop,” she said simply, refusing to elaborate further. (When May heard this, she rolled her eyes with an exasperated – if fond – sigh.

“It’s better not to keep asking. If she wants you to know what she’s working on in there, she’ll let you in. If not, you won’t get an answer. She’s…like that,” the younger stated, shaking her head.)

With all the rooms they wanted claimed for use, the eight travelers brought in the rest of their bags from shopping and started to settle in. And, with a little help from the Patch clan knights, they even managed to reconfigure the extra rooms the girls had claimed. All in all, an eventful day…the first of many to be spent in this new home.


	5. Teleporting Mishaps & Socks (Part 1)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delayed chapter, guys! I'm in the United States, and yesterday was our Independence Day, which we mostly refer to as simply the Fourth of July. As that's a holiday for us, I was both busy working (with cut hours - thanks corporate), and celebrating the holiday after I got off work. Unfortunately, that means I let the holiday get away from me, and I couldn't update on time. Sorry! Hopefully, it won't happen again.

After only a few days of staying in the mansion/castle, May approached her sister with a small frown.

“June, I just happened to notice…there’s a distinct gap in my wardrobe. Have you noticed the same thing?”

“Yes. It seems in our haste to get new clothes and blend in, we forgot a few things. What do you need?”

“Mostly socks, but some more shoes would be good as well. And more sleep wear. And clothes for practice and outdoors activities. And swim wear…”

“Funny. I forgot some socks as well. I didn’t think to get any kind of inclement weather wear, however, or swim wear, like you.”

“Oh, shoot! I’ll need the inclement weather wear as well! Thank you for reminding me. I wonder if the knights forgot about certain things as well…”

“Let’s check. We won’t need to bring all of them along if only some of them have forgotten things, I should think. Why don’t you do that while I let the Patch clan knights know we’ll need escorts to the shops again?”

“Very well, sister. I shan’t take long!”

May darted away, light and fast on her feet as usual. Luckily enough, she managed to locate four of the knights in one place. Unfortunately, however, it seemed Sir Edge was bickering with Sir Blue and Sir Papyrus, while Sir Red just stood off to the side and observed. May decided to break it up, though gently.

“Excuse me? Sir knights?”

“OH! YOUR HIGHNESS!” Sir Blue cried, all the knights surprised by her presence as the smaller Swap clan knight and taller Alpha clan knight bowed politely.

“WE DID NOT EXPECT YOU TO ENTER WHILE WE DEBATED, YOUR HIGHNESS! I APOLOGIZE!” Sir Papyrus added, Sir Blue nodding in agreement.

“It’s alright. I should be the one apologizing for interrupting. But there was something I needed to ask everyone, so I’m afraid I do require your attentions for a moment. My sister and I noticed some things in our new wardrobes we forgot to buy when we first arrived, and were wondering if perhaps there was anything any of you had forgotten as well?” she asked with a sweet little smile and tilt of her head. The four gathered seemed to think on it.

“NOW THAT YOU MENTION IT, YOUR HIGHNESS, I DO BELIEVE I DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO WEAR IN THE POOL, NOR ANYTHING WITH WHICH TO EXERCISE OR GARDEN!” Sir Papyrus declared, to which Sir Blue nodded.

“I, TOO, AM LACKING IN THOSE VERY ARTICLES OF CLOTHING!”

“Funny enough, as am I. Something tells me we had all not considered the possibility of a pool, so everyone shall need swim wear. In that case, I’ll just inform my sister that everyone will be coming along on this shopping trip. Thank you, sir knights!”

The princess beamed while she turned and trotted away again, her high energy pushing her to move faster than just a walk.

While the conversation with the four knights occurred, June was punching in the number to reach one of the Patch clan knights into the phone she had received from them. (Her sister had gotten one as well, though the skeleton knights all already seemed to possess phones. Monster kingdoms were rather strange places…)

“hello?” answered the knight she was hoping for, his voice a sleepy drawl.

“Hello,” June replied simply, hoping this would be enough for him to identify her.

“…who the fuck is this?”

Evidently, she had hoped for too much. He did sound rather out of it, though.

“I…am not sure it is safe for me to say. I cannot be sure this line is secure.”

“wha…oh. _oh,_ it’s…right. hold up. where are you?”

Again, June hesitated, but decided it was safe enough to give that one a direct answer.

“My chambers in the west wing of the house. The bedroom in the tower?”

“oh, yeah. i remember the one. alright, hold still. don’t move. i’ll be there in one or two.”

June opened her mouth to question him when the line clicked dead. She was still confused when she felt a sudden magical shift in the room, and she whirled to face it in a defensive position. No sooner had she spun to face the sudden influx of magic than the very skeleton she’d been talking to appeared in the air halfway over her bed…and halfway over her. He came crashing down with a short yelp, one that the elder princess mimicked when he landed half on top of her in a heap.

“What…what the hell?” she cried indignantly, trying to detangle herself from the boney limbs.

“calm down, would ya? geez, act like you haven’t seen one of us usin’ our magic. though, admittedly, the landing coulda been better,” he added as he managed to get off of her, getting to his feet and brushing off his jeans.

“As a matter of fact, Sir Ace,” June huffed at him, ignoring his offered hand to help her up, “I haven’t yet seen any of the knights use their magic, and I have obviously not had a reason to see yours in action. So do not assume that a week and a few days is enough time for a group of monsters to feel comfortable enough around a pair of humans to use their magic with abandon.”

Ace, the shorter of the two tall Patch clan knights, stared at her for a second before rubbing his neck and letting out a short laugh.

“well, okay then, princess. fair enough. guess i’d just assumed you guys were a little closer than that. my mistake. anyway, it just hit me that you swore. isn’t that against some kind of princess etiquette or somethin’?”

June huffed another annoyed sigh, folding her arms across her chest.

“Technically, yes. A lady is never supposed to curse. Though my upbringing was meant to be that of a lady, I assure you, I am only that by title and blood, Sir Ace. I am as far from ladylike as a princess can act without causing a scandal. But this is far from the point of why I called.”

“oh yeah? and what’s that, exactly?”

“We need to go out shopping again.”

“it’s only been a few days,” Ace pointed out with a frown.

“I am aware. But May and I noticed we had forgotten some things on our first outing. I’m having her see if the other knights had also forgotten anything.”

Ace sighed, turning the action into a yawn and a long stretch.

“alright, fine. i’ll let my bro know and we’ll be back by in a bit with our car for you to follow.”

“Thank you. And next time, Sir Ace, try not to knock one of us down.”

“then don’t wake me up next time,” he retorted grumpily before teleporting away. June growled in annoyance, but that was when her sister arrived back in her room.

“I’m pretty sure all the knights are lacking swim wear, at the very least. We’ll need to bring all of them.”

“Alright,” sighed the older princess, pinching the bridge of her nose. Her sister moved to her side with a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“Are you well?”

“Yes, just…I find speaking to Sir Ace to be…troublesome. Were you aware that at least some of the knights can teleport?”

“What? No, I had no idea! How did you discover that?”

“Sir Ace teleported himself to my chambers after I called him. I had evidently awakened him, however, and his coordination with it was off, as he landed half on top of me.”

“Oh, goodness! Were either of you hurt?”

“No, no. Mortified, perhaps, and surprised, but not harmed,” June sighed, and May relaxed at this tidbit.

“That’s good. Though I must say, I find it amusing that he has such troubles with his magic when addled by sleep. I wonder if the others are like that at all. And if it is something special to some of the knights, and not something they can all do.”

“I’m honestly not sure. He didn’t say, and it wasn’t something I could push. But he will likely be by before too much longer with Sir Giant and their car to accompany us to the store, so we should inform the knights. I’ll do that. Easier than trying to find them all in this damn castle…”

May giggled, but nodded, stepping back to allow her sister space. June then reached for one of her abilities, the telepathy connected to the tattoo upon her forehead, before casting her mind out to find all six skeletons.

_Sir knights. Please do not be alarmed. It’s June, and I’m using my telepathy to speak to all of you now. This is easier than trying to find you all, so please bear with me. My sister and I need you all to prepare to go shopping again and meet us in the foyer as soon as possible. The Patch clan knights are already on their way and should arrive before much longer to escort us. That’s all._

June disconnected her mind from the six skeletal knights before they had the chance to reply and overwhelm her. She then opened her eyes and relaxed, nodding to May that they should get ready themselves.

Once the Patch clan pair arrived, May and June had to round up half the knights (the lazier half, they found) before they could actually leave. And once out shopping, it didn’t seem that the awkwardness ended after they left the mansion.

While June was looking through boots, umbrellas, and raincoats with some of the knights when her sister rushed up to her, her eyes sparkling with glee.

“J-Jackie, look, look!” she quickly corrected, reigning in her enthusiasm long enough to stop before crashing into the older girl. Infected by the younger’s enthusiasm, June smiled warmly to her sister, turning her attention to the other ravenette same as the knights behind her.

“What is it, Mary?” June chuckled. May’s grin widened as she practically shoved the item in her hands to her sister’s face.

“I found rainbow socks!” she declared excitedly, holding them out for June. “And they’re _so_ soft and fuzzy! I had no idea such a thing existed! Feel them, Jackie!”

Behind her, the skeletal knights flushed at the girl’s excitement and enthusiasm for the socks she had in her hands, only to blush further when June actually did reach out and touch them, humming appreciatively.

“Ooh, those _are_ soft! And the color is very you. You should get them.”

“You think so?” May beamed, bouncing in place. June nodded happily, to which May squealed in glee and ran off. When June turned back towards the knights accompanying her, she spotted their faces.

“What? Why do you look so…surprised? Flustered? I honestly can’t tell.”

And just like that, the knights scattered, leaving the confused and amused princess to her own devices. Immediately after, Sir Ace walked up, watching the other knights practically flee.

“what’s up with them?”

“I don’t know. Something my sister and I were saying, I think?”

“what the hell were you talking about to get that reaction outta them?”

“Uh, the socks she was going to get?”

“o-oh.”

June then cast her gaze over to Ace, who was blushing now as well. She then rolled her eyes.

“You too? What is the problem?”

Ace’s blush deepened before rubbing the back of his neck and muttering something.

“Excuse me?”

“i said i’m not touchin’ that. i don’t live with you, not my problem. i’m gonna be…somewhere else. later.”

“Wait, Ace! Wha…”

When the skeleton teleported away, June scoffed a laugh that turned into a real one as she continued her shopping in peace.


	6. Cook-Off!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's this? A double update?! *dramatic gasp*
> 
> But seriously, to help make up for the delayed chapter (and the fact that it's so short), I'm doing a double update. Enjoy, guys! And to the fans in the US, happy belated fourth!

June sighed as she stood observing in contents of the pantry. Well, it was official. All the lazy, easy to make food was gone. It had been at least a month since their arrival, and only now was she having to break the news to the other seven that they needed to make something for themselves…

Given that half the knights were as lazy as she was, this was a problem. But also…she had no idea if any of them knew how to cook. Granted, she and May both knew how to cook for themselves (they were princesses, not spoiled brats), but cooking for eight was far different than sneaking down to the kitchens and cooking something for one to three people.

“Well, gentleman, I have some bad news,” she sighed as she entered the living room space. All the knights (and her sister) stopped watching their movie and turned to her. “We are in need of supper, and we are down to the bare ingredients to cook things. We have to decide who will cook tonight.”

Papyrus and Blue both lit up instantly, excited by the prospect of cooking something. Edge perked up as well, but didn’t otherwise emote. The other three knights, however, all looked alarmed. May, though, seemed to join the first three in their excitement.

“Wonderful!” May cried, jumping up from her seat and making her way over to her sister. “It’s been far too long since one of us cooked something! Let’s see what we’ve got and get started right away!”

June gave her sister a small warm smile, and the skeletons behind the princesses looked to them in surprise, all dread and excitement forgotten.

“you two can cook?” Red asked bluntly, the skepticism clear in his tone. June shot him an annoyed look, and May turned back around frowning and looking offended.

“Yes, Sir Red, we can cook,” May replied, crossing her arms and pouting. “And I’ll have you know that we both are fairly good at it, too.”

Sans, Red, and Orange all cringed slightly, trying not to glance at either their brothers or each other. June could see the worry on their faces, and she wondered just what they were so afraid of.

“SIR PAPYRUS, SIR EDGE, AND I ALL COOK AS WELL!! PERHAPS ONE OF US COULD COOK FOR YOU, YOUR HIGHNESSES!!!” Blue declared, and both princesses smiled, despite the looks of fear from their brothers.

“that might not be a good idea, bro,” Orange said, trying to gently curb the enthusiasm of the three.

“WHY NOT, PAPY?”

“they…uh…”

“they might not like what you guys make. as princesses, their palettes could be too refined for spaghetti, tacos, and lasagna,” Sans explained carefully. All three deflated, much to the relief of the lazier three skeletons. The princesses, however, frowned.

“What are you talking about?” May asked flatly.

“We like all those things. And we know how to make them,” June added, now folding her arms as well. Papyrus, Blue, and Edge all gaped at the princesses before stars and sparkles formed in their eyes.

“MY WORD!!” declared Edge.

“YOUR HIGHNESSES!!” Blue cried.

“YOU’RE MEETING ALL OF OUR STANDARDS!!!” Papyrus practically squealed. June and May both smiled as they glanced to each other in confusion.

“Um…I would assume that’s a good thing?” May giggled sweetly, then turned to her sister, intending to speak. She stopped when Edge stood, his tattered red scarf flapping in a nonexistent breeze.

“YOUR HIGHNESSES! I WILL REMEDY OUR DINNER SITUATION BY MAKING MY FAMOUS LASAGNA!!” he posed dramatically. While Sans, Orange, and Red (Red being the palest) all paled and choked on the air, Blue looked distressed, and Papyrus jumped up himself, stopping Edge from moving towards the kitchen.

“ACTUALLY, SIR EDGE, IT IS NOT YOU WHO WILL BE COOKING FOR THEM, BUT I, AS I MAKE THEM MY WONDERFUL SPAGHETTI!!”

(This time, it was Sans who was palest.)

Edge seemed irritated by the other tall, energetic skeleton, but before he could same something in response, Blue jumped up as well.

“GENTLEMAN, PLEASE! DO NOT FIGHT! IT WILL UPSET THE PRINCESSES!!”

Aww, how sweet…

“BESIDES, THEY ARE CLEARLY BETTER SUITED FOR HAVING MY MARVELOUS TACOS INSTEAD!!!”

Never mind, the girls thought as they snickered and watched the three argue about which dish would be made for them. (And now, it was Orange who was palest.)

“Sir knights?” June interrupted with an amused smirk. “I have an idea, if you all would hear me out. How about a competition? We all take turns and prepare our own dishes for dinner. We make enough for everyone to sample the dish, and everyone tries at least one bite of each dish. Once all have been sampled, then the winner – or winners – are the ones who will cook from now on. If there are multiple winners, then they will trade off who cooks on what day. The rules are that no one is allowed to alter another’s dish. If you mess with someone else’s dish in any way, you are disqualified, and thus not allowed back into the kitchen. For any reason. For the remainder of our stay.”

The last she added towards the Fell brothers, encouraging them not to cheat. From the looks on their faces, the incentive not to cheat worked.

“Also, everyone will cook in pairs. However, we will all make individual dishes. And we are not allowed to help each other, so pairing with your brother so he will help you isn’t an option. Cooking in pairs should help reduce cook times, however, which is why we’re doing it. So, who will be cooking with who?”

After a moment of pause where no one moved, June walked over to the Fell brothers, specifically towards the taller brother. Blue dashed over to Papyrus, who gave a happy squeal over being picked next. The three unclaimed skeletons shared looks before glancing at May. The younger princess fidgeted in place for a moment.

“My turn, huh? Well…since we’ll need a judge, I just figured it could be me, and I would just make dessert…”

Orange then stepped forward with a smirk.

“i’m only really good at one thing, and it’s desserts. guess i’m with you, miss judge.”

May giggled sweetly, beaming at him before correcting herself.

“Very well – we can both be judges! Less biased that way.”

Sans and Red both sighed, eyeing each other warily.

“guess it’s you and me, red.”

“don’t remind me.”

June and May both laughed lightly then looked to their partners.

“So…who’s going first?” June grinned, sharing a wicked smirk with Edge, who blushed at the smile.

“let’s get this over with…” Red sighed, heading for the kitchen. Sans shrugged and followed, leaving the other pairs to wait on the couch. Once they were done, they waved for the others to decide who was next.

“Our turn, Sir Edge. Let’s knock ‘em dead,” June grinned, a competitive spark in her dark eyes as she pulled Edge to his feet and towards the kitchen.

June went to work right away, moving with purpose and shifting easily around Edge when his still and confused form stood in her way. Her determination and focus seemed to catch him off guard, but he eventually started moving as well, preparing his own dish. Once he finally got started, June shot him a flirty and confident smirk, making him drop the ingredient in his hand. The dark skeleton flushed and fumbled with it before catching it again, but not before June saw and laughed, flashing him a smile that made him almost drop it all over again.

When June smiled that time, it was one of her real smiles – one that almost mirrored one of May’s beaming grins – and those were rare. The big, joyous smiles like that were rare because it was rare she was ever truly that happy. And smiles like that…it showed her true beauty, instead of just her sex appeal.

And Edge wasn’t the only one floored by the revelation that there was something under that tough exterior. Red, hiding by the doorway, was blushing and staring the same as his brother. June (having noticed the smaller Fell monster in the doorway, but choosing to ignore him) let her smile relax again and refocused on her task, but continued to cast little glances over at the tall dark knight.

“Having trouble focusing, Sir Edge?” she teased.

“NO!!” he declared, cheekbones glowing bright red, “I AM SIMPLY…HEAVILY CONTEMPLATING MY NEXT MOVE!!”

“If you say so, Sir Edge. As long as I’m not distracting you,” she hummed, a low chuckle rumbling deep in her throat. They both cooked in silence for a while, focused on their own dishes, but when they were shoulder to shoulder at the stove and oven, of course something unplanned happened.

Just as Edge turned to cross the room, forgetting for a moment June was there, she turned to go in the opposite direction, and the two slammed into each other. They both stumbled back, but it was Edge who lost his balance, latching onto the older princess to halt his fall. However, this only ended up with him yanking her down with him, and they became a tangled heap of long limbs on the floor with her on top.

“So forward, Sir Edge!” June purred, her words coming out in a breathy chuckle. “I had no idea you were so eager to _jump my bones._ ”

Edge’s entire skull was red, and if steam could be coming out of his nonexistent ears, she was sure it would have. With another low chuckle, June rolled off of the tall skeleton and back to her feet, leaving the flustered Sir Edge on the floor until he could collect himself. (Red wasn’t much better over by the door, practically seething in jealousy as he ducked back so she wouldn’t see him.)

With the extra time she bought with Edge lying in the floor, June finished her dish first, adding an exaggerated sway to her hips as she walked out of the room. Once she got to the doorway, however, she paused with a sly smile and leaned over to Red.

“Enjoy the show?~” she murmured, low and sultry. From the crimson flush and sudden lack of Sir Red instantly after she spoke, she successfully got to him, too. She was cackling in the next moment, genuinely enjoying tormenting the poor Fell clan knights.

“June! Were you being evil again?” May chastised, to which her sister gave a wink, unable to stop the wide grin on her blood-red lips.

“Maybe.~ Nothing I haven’t done before,” she shrugged, earning her a slap on the arm. Sans, Blue, Orange, and Papyrus all looked confused, but the sisters didn’t elaborate, waiting until Edge finally emerged from the kitchen to send in Blue and Papyrus.

After the two of them were finished (and June had to step in only once to quell the flames and smoke pouring out of the kitchen), the dishes were ready and set on the table to be presented. (May went to fetch Sir Red, knowing June would have just tormented him further.)

Starting with Red, he pulled the cover off his dish without even the slightest hint of flair or style.

“made a calzone.”

Sans went next, pulling his off with a little more drama (barely, though).

“quiches are my niche,” he grinned, earning groans from three of the other knights, and laughter from the princesses.

Next was Edge, uncovering his dish with a proud and dramatic flourish.

“I, OF COURSE, MADE MY SPECIALTY LASAGNA!!”

June smiled as she calmly, but proudly displayed her dish.

“I went for something a little unusual. It’s a Thai dish called _Khao Nuea Op_ , which has rice as a base, slices of baked beef, and is normally served with a spicy chili dip.”

The skeletons certainly looked impressed. Next was Blue.

“I MADE TACOS, WHICH IS ALMOST AS MAGNIFICENT AS ME! MWEH-HEH-HEH!!!”

And finally, Papyrus, unveiling his food.

“AND I MADE THE BEST ONE OF ALL! SPAGHETTI!! NYEH-HEH-HEH!!!”

The girls laughed at the enthusiastic pair of skeletons before all leaned back, contemplating what to try first.

June and May both moved to try Edge’s lasagna first, Red, Sans, and Orange all cringing when they take a bite. Then, to their shock, the girls hum in approval.

“Not bad, Sir Edge,” June smiled a little, giving honest feedback. “The sauce is a little chunkier than I would have expected, but overall, not bad.”

“I agree!” May chimed happily. Red, as if to make sure the girls weren’t just pulling their legs, grabbed a fork and took a bite himself. The surprise on his face says it all – the girls are telling the truth. Edge’s normally inedible lasagna is actually good.

With the lasagna polished off shortly after that, the next on the girls’ list was Blue’s tacos. As was expected, they were inedible, but the girls did their best to hide how disgusted they were. (And, fortunately for them, they managed it rather well.)

Then was Sans’ quiche, which both girls thoroughly enjoyed.

“You’re quite good at those, Sir Sans!” May cheered, June giving another contented hum of approval. He blushed blue, embarrassed by the praise. Then it was on to June’s dish.

The knights all took their bowls and tried it, though skeptically at first. But all were delighted to find that she really was a good cook, and pulled the dish off well.

“what did you say this was?” Sans asked with his mouth full. (Papyrus scolded him, but June took it at a compliment.)

“A Thai dish called _Khao Nuea Op_. It’s difficult to pronounce unless you have a lot of practice, but the dish itself is rather simple to make.”

“Did you need your recipe book for that one, or…?” May asked, tilting her head a little. Her sister shook her head.

“Nah, I’ve got that one memorized. Like I said, pretty simple to make. But, uh…I _did_ ask Mother to send my recipe books in my last letter…” the older ravenette admitted sheepishly. May just laughed.

“You would, cheeky thing!”

Next was Papyrus, and again his dish proved inedible, with the girls once again able to pull off being gentle and kind about it. Everyone quickly moved on to the last dish, Red’s.

“What exactly is a ‘calzone’?” June asked as she picked up a piece. Red stared at her and May before realizing the princesses were serious and didn’t know. He sighed heavily and replied, “it’s…i think you guys would call it italian? and it’s dough stuffed with meat and cheese and veggies and shit. just eat the damn thing…”

Both shrugged and did, humming in surprise and delight to find that it was good.

“This really well done, Sir Red!” May mumbled through her mouthful of food, covering it with her hand. June nodded emphatically, taking another bite of the piece she had.

“Each flavor blends without taking away from the other ingredients,” June hummed, pleased. “Once my recipe books get here, I _have_ to have your recipe.”

Red tried not to look too smug at this, and as everyone finished off the dishes and set them in the sink to be washed later, May latched onto Orange’s arm with a beaming grin.

“That means it’s our turn! We’ll be deciding the results while we make dessert!” she declared, dragging the tall orange skeleton away. A moment later, she released his arm and doubled back.

“Hold on a moment! I forgot to ask! What is everyone’s favorite fruit or sweets flavors?”

“BLUEBERRIES!! MWEH-HEH-HEH!!!”

“You know me, May. Mint or peppermint all the way.”

“I PREFER CHERRIES, I SUPPOSE,” Edge sighed.

“raspberries for me,” Sans replied.

“strawberries,” Red answered simply.

“I QUITE PREFER ORANGE DREAMSICLE! THANK YOU FOR ASKING!!”

“i’ll just tell ya when you get to…whatever it is you’re doing,” Orange smiled at her, to which she nodded, dragging him back into the kitchen.

“So!” she giggled, casting a glance his direction as she got out her ingredients. “What did you think of everyone’s cooking?”

“well…i think we both know my bro and papyrus have to be banned from cooking.”

“After the fire June had to quell?” May said, lowering her voice so it wouldn’t carry to the aforementioned knights. “They will most certainly not be allowed to cook. At least, not unsupervised, or not until after they’ve had lessons to better their skill.”

Orange nodded to that. It was certainly a fair verdict.

“red and sans are fine to cook.”

“Agreed. As is June, but my own opinion would be biased.”

“nah, i’m with ya there. she’s got skill. she’s fine to use the kitchen.”

May beamed at his agreement, pleased.

“there is one thing, though.”

“Oh?”

“edge…he can’t be allowed to cook again.”

“Why not? His dish was actually rather good. Nothing quite like June’s, Sir Sans’, and Sir Red’s, but it was at least edible.”

“that’s the thing. whatever your sister was doing in here with him, it somehow…made his dish better. he’s normally terrible. probably worse than either papyrus or my bro.”

“Oh. Really? But June wouldn’t cheat. I know her. She set the rule about altering the dishes of others on purpose…oh! I know what she did. She probably played a mind game to psych him out, and he was so distracted, he didn’t cook his dish as he normally would,” May sighed. Orange raised a brow bone and cast a glance in her direction. She wasn’t looking at him as she spoke, as her gaze was trained on her own dessert dish, but she was still attentive, shaking her head at her sister’s antics.

“At least it didn’t make his cooking worse.”

Orange shuddered at the thought.

“thank the stars for that.”

May giggled, and they shared a quick glance, smiling at each other amicably. Then May’s look became a combination of amused and scolding.

“Come now, Sir Orange! Aren’t you even going to get started? We’re pretty much finished debating the results at this point.”

“that was the point. and is it really a debate if the only thing we had to clarify was edge?”

“Mm. Touché.”

They both laughed and worked in silence for a bit, then May muttered out, “Fiddlesticks…”

Orange snorted before casting a glance her direction.

“something wrong, your highness?”

“Oh…it’s…I can’t find something I’m looking for,” she sighed, clearly distracted. (The pout on her lips was undeniably cute, though.) “Is it maybe up on one of the higher shelves…?”

He watched her lean back while she held on to the counter, trying to see the contents of the shelves above her head without much success. She then stood on her tiptoes and leaned as far back as she could physically go…then, with a short cry of surprise, her hands slipped from the edge of the counter, and her feet slid out from under her. Orange was quick to turn and catch her, righting the blushing and embarrassed princess easily.

“O-oh, thank you, Sir Orange! I swear I’m not normally this clumsy…” she chuckled nervously, and Orange wasn’t sure if she was being so cute on purpose, or just honestly that adorable. In a way, she was a lot like Blue…

“no problem, princess. can’t have you _falling for me_ already,” he chuckled, freezing once the words were out of his mouth. She blushed and giggled in return, turning away before she could spot the orange coating his cheekbones.

“Oh, all of you and those puns…you’re lucky I like puns!”

“heh heh…yeah…”

There was a beat of awkward silence before May seemed to remember her problem, for which she sighed, “Oh, shoot. I forgot. Gosh darn it.”

Orange again snorted, and they both broke down into laughter for a moment before he finally managed out, “do you need help, princess?”

“Um, if you don’t mind. Please,” she smiled, ducking her head sheepishly.

“if i minded, i wouldn’t have offered,” Orange responded, pulling down everything above where she could see with his magic. The innocent look of wonder on her face to see his magic reminded the tall knight that they hardly ever used their magic around the princesses, and he made a mental note to try to use it a little more often…just to see the cuteness that was her expression. (And to find out what June’s reaction would be – he almost wanted to share that little thought with the others just because of May’s reaction, just so they could find out what June’s face would be.)

“ _There_ it is! I knew it was up on one of the higher shelves!” she declared, snatching something out of his magical grasp and pulling Orange back to reality. “Thank you, Sir Orange.”

“of course, your highness.”

“Oh, um, about that…” she again ducked her head sheepishly as he put away the unneeded items. “You…don’t have to call me ‘your highness’ or by my title while we’re here if you don’t want to. Since it must be confusing to have to switch between calling us as such and the fake names we’ve been using. If you like, Sir Orange, you can just call me May. Or whatever you like, really. I don’t mind.”

She relaxed by the end, giving him an earnest and sweet smile that was hard not to blush at. She was so honest and open, she practically wore her Soul on her sleeve…no wonder she seemed to be able to charm the pants off even the Fell clan monsters.

“uh…thanks, your – er…may. know then that you don’t have to keep calling me ‘sir’ orange. just orange works fine.”

May beamed, a light pink tinging her cheeks as she turned with her ingredient.

“Very well, ‘just Orange’.”

It took him a second to realize her joke, but he definitely laughed once he got it. Again she flashed him a cheeky grin, then proceeded to chat him up some more once he finally stopped laughing.

“So, Orange…what are you making?”

“well…i’m sure you noticed by now that all of us have a kind of…dish we specialize in?”

“Yes…well, I noticed with Sir Papyrus, Sir Blue, and Sir Edge. Are the dishes Sir Sans and Sir Red made included in that?”

“yeah. well, like papyrus has spaghetti, edge has lasagna, my bro has tacos…sans has his quiche, red has his calzone...yeah. we’re all good at one dish in particular. sort of, in the case of our brothers. anyway, mine is macaroons.”

“Macaroons? Hmm. That could pair well with what I’m making, actually. What a funny coincidence!” she giggled, her ever-present smile warm and pleasant. “I suppose I just didn’t peg you for a macaroon type of fellow.”

“oh? then what would you have guessed i’d make?”

She thought on it a moment, but eventually shrugged.

“I haven’t a clue, Orange. Just that macaroons wouldn’t have been my first guess. Oh, that actually reminds me. You haven’t yet told me what your favorite sweets or fruit flavors are.”

“oh. right. uh…well, i’m partial to oranges, but i also like just about every form of sugar. honey, chocolate, caramel, butterscotch…you name it, i’ll probably like it.”

May hummed thoughtfully, a sly little smile playing on her lips.

“Thank you, Orange. That’s very helpful.”

“really?”

“Yes, because it tells me yours will be the easiest to make!”

The knight regarded the princess with confusion and a little bit suspicion now. How could his confession of his impossible sweet tooth have made her task easier?

“so then what are you making, may?”

She hesitated then sighed, but continued to smile.

“Well, since you told me yours, it’s only fair. I’m making individual cheesecakes for everyone. That way, everyone gets the flavors they like the most without having to compromise.”

Well, that explained why she’d been looking so hard for the vanilla extract.

“that’s very thoughtful of you.”

She shrugged, casting a look over her shoulder.

“What can I say? I like seeing people happy.”

Another point for her being a sweet and precious little charmer, like Blue. (Orange could only hope she wasn’t also a secret shipper and mischief-maker, too.)

They worked in a comfortable silence for a while longer, until her cheesecakes were almost done (she refused to let him see his), and his macaroons were already cooling. Once Orange’s macaroons were finished, he started to leave the kitchen and wait with the others until May was finished.

“Oh, Orange! Wait a moment!”

He turned back to have her flit up to his side, a sunny smile on her face. She then pulled on his shoulder until she could reach his face and pecked him on his cheekbone sweetly.

“Thank you again for the help,~” she practically sang in his ear before letting go and scurrying back to finish up. And Orange was frozen where he stood until enough of his suddenly scattered mind reformed for him to teleport away, blushing a bright orange.

A little bit after that, May emerged from the kitchen, a beaming smile on her face.

“The desserts are done! And so are the results!”

Everyone moved back to the table as May brought out plates for the desserts, Orange only just now showing up again to help out. He used his magic to carry out the desserts on a pair of large trays. The younger princess flashed him a grateful smile before taking the tray with her cheesecakes on it herself. (She didn’t notice the way he blushed after the smile, as she turned away to start serving everyone.)

“Okay! So! I made individual cheesecakes with everyone’s favorite flavors! Cherry for Sir Edge, strawberry for Sir Red, raspberry for Sir Sans, Orange Dreamsicle for Sir Papyrus, blueberry for Sir Blue, candy-cane for June, caramel-chocolate swirl for myself, and butterscotch with a honey drizzle for Orange!” she concluded with a giggle, proving she had committed all their favorites to memory. The only one not shocked by this was June, who beckoned her sister over to peck her on the forehead affectionately.

“Impressive as always, my dear. Can’t wait to dig in.”

May blushed lightly, but glowed with pride. Orange shrank a little, clearly intimidated by May’s reveal of just how powerful her kindness really was, but lazily unveiled his own colorful creation.

“i made macaroons.”

Everyone took at least one macaroon and set it next to cheesecake May made. Then they all started eating, praising both in their own ways. Once the others all passed judgement that the two of them could continue to use the kitchen, they were then pestered for the results of the competition.

“Well, after a bit of deliberation, we decided…” she paused, glancing to Orange for effect. He huffed and chuckled a bit at the bit of drama she injected into the situation.

“sans, red, lady june…you guys can still use the kitchen. you’re safe to cook.”

June grinned proudly, and Sans and Red both looked unsurprised by the revelation.

“I’m sorry, Sir Edge, Sir Blue, and Sir Papyrus. But unless you three are accompanied by someone who is allowed to cook, then you will not be allowed to use the kitchen. You are still allowed _into_ the kitchen, but for now, you are not allowed to cook.”

All three looked incredibly disappointed by the news, but Edge quickly covered it with a loud huff and crossed his arms, spinning away from them.

“Oh, but don’t be sad! I said you’re not allowed _for now._ Meaning that, if you can improve your skills, you will be allowed to cook again! So now you have something to work for while we’re here, right, sir knights?”

Leave it to May to let them down gently, even giving them a goal to work for. June smiled knowingly as Blue and Papyrus brightened considerably, with Edge glancing over at her thoughtfully. All three agreed readily, and their brothers looked to May, further impressed by her handling of the situation.

“I’m telling you, May…with your people skills, you’d make an incredible queen to replace our mother.”

“And _I’m_ telling _you,_ I don’t think I have the confidence to rule the way you or Mother do or could! If we were only allowed to rule together…” she sighed, pouting with slumped shoulders. “Your confidence and strategic know-how, combined with my people skills? Only then could we make even a game attempt to take mother’s place. As if I even want to…”

June nodded, coming around and looping her arm around her sister’s shoulders.

“I’m sorry, May. I didn’t mean to bring you down.”

“It’s alright, June. I know you wouldn’t do it on purpose. It’s just where my mind went, and there’s nothing really to be done about it.”

The older princess made a noise of discontent with her sister’s answer and proceeded to cuddle May harder, trying to comfort her. May smiled a little, at least appeased by the attempt.

“Well,” the blue-eyed ravenette finally sighed, raising her gaze to the skeletons at the table, “I think we’ve all had enough somber moods for the night. Shall we move to the living room and partake in a movie?”

Blue and Papyrus both jumped to their feet, almost instantly by the girl’s side as she stood and allowed them to escort her to the other room, half babbling/half arguing about the movie they should watch. After cleaning up the dishes on the table the others joined the trio, glad the moment had passed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good thing there are end notes, too, because I almost forgot - I'M SUPER FREAKING EXCITED, GUYS!! I honestly cannot believe how well-received this has been, and it makes me so happy that it's done so well. I'm not sure if that's because of my writing specifically, or if it's because there were some curious fans of [6S1M](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7124200/chapters/16181881) that liked my work as well, but either way, I really couldn't be happier. So a big thank you to you guys for sticking around and enjoying the work!


	7. Edge v June & The Special Rooms (Part 1)

“PRINCESS MAY?”

May turned to face the small blue knight whom had called her with a smile.

“Please, Sir Blue. You needn’t call me princess here. Or anywhere, for that matter. Not if you don’t want to. Just May would be fine. But was there something you needed?”

Blue’s cheekbones dusted a faint baby blue for a moment as he processed her allowing him to call her without her title, but he shook it off quickly as he nodded that yes, he had needed her attention.

“I WAS WONDERING PR-ER…MAY…W-WHAT IT IS THAT THE EXTRA ROOM YOU SET ASIDE WAS FOR?”

May brightened, making the knight glad he had asked.

“Why, didn’t I say before? It’s my studio!”

“WHAT TYPE OF STUDIO? PRINCESS JUNE SAID THE SAME THING FOR ONE OF HER ROOMS, BUT YOU ARE OBVIOUSLY NOT USING THEM FOR THE SAME THINGS!”

“Oh,” May giggled sweetly in response. “I suppose that would be confusing, then. Then allow me to show you. Follow me, Sir Blue.”

“AH, PRINCESS? ER, MAY? YOU…MAY CALL ME JUST BLUE OR BLUEBERRY, IF YOU WOULD LIKE…”

May grinned at the little blue skeleton before bobbing a happy curtsy in reply.

“Thank you, Blue! I most certainly will call you that, then! Now, this way!~”

The younger princess then lead the way to her space. When he entered behind her, Blue (and the other skeletons whom had ended up joining them on the walk over) gaped and gawked at the room. It had transformed since any of the knights had last seen it.

May had lined the walls with mirrors, and added a handrail along one wall. Long, beautiful gossamer curtains framed the large windows, billowing out into the room as the breeze would move them. And, on one corner, there was a mattress on the floor with a pillow and blanket. Nearby that was a set of chairs, and a little further away sat a rack for hanging clothes and costumes on, with a few outfits and hangers already occupying it. Between the clothes rack and the chairs sat a stereo system on the ground, an aux cable connecting a small device to the stereo. May had the rest of the furniture moved out, and the already large room looked even bigger with the massive amount of floor space now available. May herself breezed into the room and untied a pair of ballet flats from where they hung on the clothes rack, plopping down in one of the chairs to pull on a pair of long socks and put the shoes on.

Once she had finished with one sock and shoe, she glanced up at her ensemble of knights and smiled knowingly, sliding on the other sock.

“Well, sir knights? What do you think of my studio?”

“what…do you even _do_ in here, princess?” Red asked, befuddled by the room. She giggled, tying her other shoe before standing.

“Well, to clarify what I mean when I say this is my studio…it’s my dancing studio. I come in here to practice my dancing, and to choreograph new dance routines.”

“didn’t know you could dance, may,” Orange supplied, still admiring her simplistic choices for the room.

“Well, of course! A princess must know how to dance some of the more traditional dances, like ballroom and the waltz. But after learning those, I fell in love with the art of dance. The grace and style! The costumes! The music! Oh, I was enraptured! Before long, I was begging Mother to let me learn other forms of dance, and after that…well, we discovered my passion. I am an avid dancer, and I am particularly adept in ballet and more modern contemporary dancing. I prefer ballet, of course – much more graceful and elegant – but I do enjoy just letting the music move me as it sees fit. Would you like to watch?”

The skeletons nodded, all moving to sit on the floor well out of her way. She beamed at them and moved over to the stereo system, crouching to select a song to play. Once she settled on a song, she dashed to the center of the room as the first notes strained from the speakers. None of the knights recognized the song she played, but the beautiful violin work was impressive by itself. The almost dubstep or dance feel to the song seemed like an odd choice, but paired perfectly with the violin.

As for May’s dancing? None of the knights could take their eye sockets off of her. Her body was like liquid as it moved, every motion flowing fluidly into the next. Even her expression (when they could catch it) was in tune with the music, helping the story of it along when it could. When she finished, they were all too stunned to do more than stare at her in awe. She darted over to pause the song about to come on and turned to them, catching her breath.

“So? What did you think?”

“THAT WAS TRULY INCREDIBLE, PRINCESS!!” Blue and Papyrus breathed, their gazes starry. Sans and Orange both nodded in agreement with their brothers, still struck dumb by the display. Red and Edge both clicked their tongues and looked away blushing, but it was Edge who said, “IT WAS…A REMARKABLE DISPLAY OF SKILL.”

Knowing that was the best she was going to get out of either Fell clan knight and appreciating the sentiment the other four shared, May blushed and beamed, pleased.

“I’m so glad you enjoyed it! If you like, all of you can come watch me dance any time. If I’m going to be dancing anyways, I might as well practice with an audience,” she added, giggling lightly.

She then went back to her music player, content with continuing dancing. The two Fell clan knights opted to check on the other princess, now curious what she was doing with her extra rooms. Surprisingly, it was difficult to locate her, until the other four skeletons joined the search. Once June was found, the knights stared at her, shocked by the change in appearance.

Like May’s studio, the rooms June had chosen had undergone transformations as well since the skeletons had last been in them. This one in particular she had said was a training room, and it looked the part. Exercise equipment was scattered about the room, and had various places to sit and rest or get exercise-friendly refreshments from. The most noteworthy features to the room were the various pieces of equipment , the sound system set off to the side on a table (blaring energetic punk rock music they couldn’t place), the large punching bag June herself was currently working on, and the wall of weaponry hanging up adjacent to the windows. The princess had chosen not to decorate the room itself, and had cleared a space in the center of the room for her to work on her punching bag, so everything else sat in a sort of circle around the space. And that was not even touching the princess’s change in appearance.

June herself was wearing nothing but a dark red sports bra with sky blue short-shorts. Her long dark hair was tied back in a ponytail, and her hands and feet were wrapped, to prevent her training from harming herself. But up until now, the princess had kept mostly covered up, so the knights had little chance to see the web of beautifully designed tattoos reaching from the backs of her hands up her arms and to her shoulders. She also had tattoos on her forehead, neck, back, and chest, they noticed, and she was very much into her workout. When Red whistled lowly at her, she jumped, using her blue magic to instinctively throw him against the wall. When she realized who it was, she let him go, running a hand across her hair and panting as she caught her breath.

“Sorry, Sir Red. I didn’t realize anyone had entered the training room. Speaking of, sir knights…welcome to the training room. I finally got it up and running a couple days ago, and this room will be one for everyone to use, so feel free to stop in here any time you feel the need to train or exercise in any way. Now, if you’ll excuse me…”

As she turned back to her punching bag, however, a few things happened. One, Sir Papyrus and Sir Blue both became excited at the prospect of a room where they could not only train in, but spar with the girls. Two, their brothers both glanced to their brother, then the Fell knights, then each other, apprehension on both their skulls. Three, Sir Edge seemed ready to explode with outrage towards the elder princess.

Then the two more excitable knights both exclaimed, “LADY JUNE!! PLEASE ALLOW ME THE HONOR OF SPARRING WITH YOU!!!”

They then looked at each other in surprise, but rather than argue on who would spar with her, they both just grinned and corrected the “me” in their statement to “us”. However, before June could reply, Edge – with a shocking amount of calm for the outrage he’d just expressed – declared, “NO. I SHALL FIGHT THE HUMAN.”

The room went dead silent, and the other skeletal knights knew that this was an extremely bad sign. Even Papyrus and Blue refrained from speaking out against the idea. But June didn’t understand the sudden tension in the room and shrugged, waving him closer over her shoulder.

“Sure,” she replied, grunting as she removed the punching bag from the center of the room. “I’ll spar with you, Sir Edge. Just let me get this out of the way.”

He waited until she had dropped the heavy bag off to the side, dusting off her hands as if it were nothing. Once she turned to him, she again gestured him closer.

“So, how would you like to do this? A timed match? Or should we go until one has obviously and unarguably bested the other?”

“NEITHER ONE ARE MY PREFERRED OPTION, BUT IF THOSE ARE THE ONLY CHOICES, I WILL NOT OBJECT TO THE SECOND.”

“Very well. Shall we have a referee, or just call it as we see fit?”

“AGAIN, NOT MY PREFERRED CHOICES, BUT THE SECOND WILL DO.”

June nodded her acknowledgement of his opinion with a soft hum, adding, “And shall we set any ground rules?”

“THERE ARE ONLY TWO SETS OF RULES I WILL AGREE TO, YOUR HIGHNESS. EITHER THERE ARE NO RULES…”

Suddenly, red bones appeared around Edge, and he launched them at the same time as he materialized a red bone into his hand and swung at her, forcing the green-eyed girl to creatively dodge the dual attacks. She managed, but stared in surprise at the now evilly grinning tall skeleton, his scarf waving in a non-existent breeze behind him.

“OR THE ONLY RULE IS TO WIN BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.”

June shot him a glare, but for once, her piercing eyes had no effect on her opponent. Unfazed by this, however, June (now realizing why the others had become so tense) chose to taunt the knight.

“If you’re really going to do this, then lay off the second rate villain act. No one will take you seriously if you pose like a comic book supervillain and spout clichéd lines at them.”

This only angered the skeleton further, thus making the agile and lithe ravenette have to dodge more projectiles at a much faster rate. She mostly stayed on the defensive, Edge’s speed making it difficult to do much else but dodge. If she could just get off a counter-attack – _there!_

As one of his bone attacks flew by her, June took her chance, snatching it out of the air and throwing it back at him as she spun to avoid his other attacks. The maneuver caught the taller Fell knight off guard and he had to dodge it, causing a momentary lapse in his attacks…just long enough for June to stop and catch her breath.

“HOW DARE YOU THROW MY OWN ATTACK BACK AT ME!!” he screeched, stomping his foot like a child. “YOU CAN’T DO THAT!!”

June smirked a wicked, confident little grin and replied, “You said any means necessary.”

Edge growled in irritation and sent another wave of attacks after her, which she continued to skillfully dodge. Now, however, any time she managed to grab a bone out of midair and throw it back for a counter, he just blocked it, anticipating the action.

Just when they both had to pause for breath, however, June was the one caught off guard, Edge suddenly rushing right up to her and swinging his hand-held bone. Having been surprised by the shift to close-quarters combat, she couldn’t avoid the hit, the blow knocking the wind out of her. At the same time, she was slammed mercilessly against the hard surface behind her – only to have it shatter around her. She felt the broken glass of the window bite into her skin as her momentum sent her flying through it, and the second gravity began to drag her down to earth, her instincts kicked in. Her magic flaring to life in a bright burst, June spread her wings and managed to catch herself in time to land safely (if rather clumsily) on the grass in the courtyard behind the mansion.

She took the momentary pause in the fight to calm her racing heart and erratic magic, as she knew for a fact now that she couldn’t afford to get careless or sloppy while fighting Edge. But more than that, she also had to pause to force away the bad memories trying to push their way to the forefront of her mind. If she couldn’t afford to get sloppy, then she _definitely_ couldn’t afford to become distracted. As a monster from the Fell kingdom, it was dubious he’d show any sympathy or mercy for her situation.

Speaking of, June felt a magical shift in the air around her, and shortly after, she sensed the presence of at least one someone hovering near her. She wasn’t sure if she was just being sensitive or not, but it felt as if she were surrounded, so she shot to her feet, spinning and spreading her wings in an attempt to knock the hovering presence away from her. Instantly there was a cry of, “hey! watch it!”

Completing her turn, wings spread dramatically behind her as her magic burned in her eyes and at her hands, June took a defensive stance before realizing who the voice belonged to.

“Sir Sans…” she breathed, relaxing fractionally. The skeleton in question lowered his hands, which had been raised in a placating surrender gesture, and relaxed some as well.

“geez, your highness. didn’t realize you were so jumpy when you fought.”

“I’m generally not. You just…poor timing,” she replied, shaking her head.

“coulda fooled me,” he retorted, quirking a brow bone at her. He then shook his head as well as she scowled, getting back to the point. “look, i came down here to make sure you were alright. edge didn’t actually hurt ya, did he?”

“A bruise might form, perhaps, but that would be the only damage thus far. But as this little…’match’…continues, we’ll see how that changes,” she growled, looking up at the window.

“if you’re fine, then what the hell is that?”

June turned back to the knight and glanced on her body where he pointed, but not seeing what he was pointing to, she attempted to twist her body to locate what he’d seen. The resulting sting and pain told her what she needed to know.

“Ah. Yes. Those,” she hissed with a grimace. “That was from the glass, not Sir Edge.”

“yeah, but it was his fault you went through the window.”

“Perhaps, but he did not directly cause the damage to my person. Do not think I am defending him, however. I do intend to repay him for that. After all…he wants an all-out, no holds barred brawl rather than a civilized sparring match? Then that’s what he’s going to get.”

Sans blanched at the darkness to her tone, but before he could try to talk her down, the knighted princess used her ability to see Souls to located Edge, grabbing his Soul forcefully with her blue magic and yanking him first out of the window, then to the ground. Once she released him, Edge scrambled to his feet, and it almost seemed as if his own crimson eye-lights burned as harshly as her magic.

“HOW. DARE. YOU,” he practically roared. June’s own features twisted into a frightening expression that had him (and the others, once they caught sight of this situation) hesitating.

“ _You first,_ ” she snarled back.

With that, June began her counter assault, mixing her powers with her magic, putting Edge on the defensive. He attempted to counter attack several times, but she was too quick, either shattering his attack before it could reach her, or dodging without even so much as a flinch. And she did not just play a distance game with her magic – she also got up close and personal, randomly switching between attempting to use melee attacks and launching her ranged attacks. While Edge had caught her off-guard initially, and he had the brutal strength of a Fell clan monster on his side, June was far faster, craftier, and more resourceful, thus making her more than a match for him. And the princess – trained to be a warrior – showed the tall black and red skeleton no sympathy or mercy. That is not to say she escaped unharmed…but she ignored her injuries in favor of continuing her assault.

Finally, both of them worn and breathing heavily, the fighting ceased. Edge was on his knees before the black-haired ball of fury, his hands bound behind him with vines and one of her hands aimed at his face, electricity crackling between her extended fingers. The air was as tense as the electricity in her hand, but no one moved. After a moment, however, June lowered her electrified hand, the tiny bolts zipping across her skin dissipating as she did.

“Sir Papyrus, knight of the Fell clan…” June began, her voice even and strong. “Did you or did you not swear your service to my mother? Does that not mean, by extension, that you are sworn into both mine and my sister’s service as well? And this…spat…we’ve just had. In my kingdom, you would be put on trial for – and most certainly found guilty of – treason. For attempting to kill your princess.”

Sir Edge opened his mouth to protest, but he instead squawked as she tightened the bonds around his hands, forcing him back further towards the ground at an awkward (and no doubt painful) angle.

“ _Do not interrupt me,_ ” she hissed venomously, composing herself a moment later. “I know what you were going to say. I am no princess of yours. I acknowledge this to be true. I am not a part of your clan. I am not a monster. I am barely even _human,_ despite being princess to a human kingdom. And I’m sure in your kingdom, this battle would have gone very differently. However, we are neither in my kingdom, nor yours. This, however, does not change the fact that you attacked me with the clear intent to either harm me, or kill me. Nor does it change the fact that you have been sworn into my family’s service for the duration of your mission. A mission, might I remind you, that includes protecting me and keeping me from harm. Not causing it. Now, in order to avoid any nasty repercussions from this, I will not tell neither the Patch clan knights, nor my mother about this, and I shall swear my sister into secrecy. But from this moment on, you would do well to never let this particular situation happen again. _From now on,_ Sir Edge, you would do well to remember who truly holds the power in this household. And know that I am not the only one you have cause to fear.”

With that, June released his hands, backing away from the tall skeleton.

“We’re through here. Dismissed,” she tossed his way as she turned, stalking back towards the mansion. She only made it about halfway before she grunted and fell to one knee, shuddering in pain as she drew breath. Blue and Papyrus rushed to her side, Sans and Orange teleporting over.

“LADY JUNE!!”

“YOU ARE IN NO CONDITION TO BE MOVING ABOUT!! LET US HELP YOU!”

“c’mon, kid. tell us what you need us to do.”

With a pained grunt and a huff, June nodded a little and muttered, “Get…May.”

Orange nodded to Sans, then warped away to do just that. Papyrus and Blue fluttered about the wounded warrior until the orange-clad knight returned with her sister.

“Ooh…oh dear…s-sorry, give me a moment…how disorienting!” the younger girl declared, pale and clinging to Orange until she recovered. Once she was able to support herself again, she turned towards her sister, gasped, then bolted over, shooing the knights away from the elder.

“God, what happened? I haven’t seen you this torn up since the king’s fits when we were little!”

June made an unintelligible noise before responding to her sister so softly, the knights couldn’t clearly understand her, the younger gingerly helping the older to her feet and shuffling towards the mansion. Just before they entered, however, May turned back towards the skeletons and pinned them all in place with the sharpness of her icy gaze.

“I expect to be briefed on just what happened here if my sister is unable to do so after I heal her. And that is an order, sir knights.”

So, once the younger princess was done healing her sister (whom ended up needing to rest afterwards from the loss of blood), the knights did as ordered and traded off who was telling her what occurred. Upon finishing the tale, May pursed her lips and gave the tall Fell knight a sharp look.

“And just what did you think attacking my sister would accomplish, Sir Edge? Earning both of our distrust? Because it most certainly did that. June, without a doubt, will not be willing to spar with you again unless you can prove that you won’t repeat this behavior. And when I say you would have to prove it, I mean to both of us. And before you _dare_ interrupt me,” May continued, pointing an accusing finger at him, “I say you would have to prove it to both of us because you have not just crossed a line with my sister. You have crossed a line with me, and that is something you _do not_ do. You see, I forgive far too easily. When others attack me or harm me or do anything negative towards me, I will forgive them once I understand their actions and the reasons behind them. But attack my sister? Harm my family? Then you have crossed me, and my forgiveness is hard won. I hope you understand the severity of your transgression, Sir Edge. Because you now face an uphill battle, and it is my belief that you are rather underequipped for the task ahead of you. Now, unless you have something valuable to say in your own defense, you are dismissed, Sir Edge. Good day.”

After a pause where May turned away, Edge stepped forward, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“PRINCESS –”

“I said good day!” she snapped, easily pulling free and storming away. Edge blinked several times as he watched her retreat, and though he appeared slightly either affronted or wounded, he was not the only one stunned by the seriousness and ferocity the younger princess had just displayed.

Evidently, that was a…highly educational day for everyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Foreshadowing! Foreshadowing galore!~ Have fun guessing what it is!~ Oh, and I have a personal Tumblr for anyone who has questions or comments, by the way. It can be found [here](http://singingdreamwritesstuff.tumblr.com/)! Now, time for me to disappear. See you next week for more!


	8. Video Game Mayhem (Part 1)

May screwed her face up in concentration, sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth a little as she focused on the screen before her. After a quick series of button presses, she hummed in satisfaction, relaxing with a smile. But two seconds later, she squeaked loudly in alarm, mashing the buttons on her controller as she continued to make a ruckus. With the younger princess making so much noise, it was bound to draw attention, and before long, four of the six knights came rushing into the room, brandishing weapons and magic to defend the distressed girl.

“WE ARE HERE, PRINCESS!!” Papyrus cried.

“WE WILL PROTECT YOU!!” declared Blue.

“what’s the danger, kid?!” hissed Orange.

“who needs ta have a bad time?!” Red snarled.

May paused her game and looked at the knights, startled and bewildered.

“Wha…?” she replied eloquently, staring at them. “What’s…got all of you so riled up?”

All of them blinked blankly at her, glancing around the room to confirm that no, she really wasn’t in danger before directing their attentions to the confused ravenette.

“WE…HEARD YOUR YELLING…”

“weren’t you making all that noise?”

There was a moment’s hesitation, then understanding crossed her features. As it did, she began to laugh, giggling and blushing as she set aside her controller. After a moment, she was able to regain enough of her composure to get up from the couch and approach the knights, an affable smile on her face.

“I was indeed making quite the ruckus. But I was not in danger. I apologize for worrying you, sir knights. I was merely playing this game, you see, and…well, one of the enemies startled me. It was my character in-game who was in danger, not myself.”

There was a pause before they all fully relaxed, Orange the first to comment.

“geez, kid. way to give us a heart attack…especially since we don’t have hearts.”

May giggled sheepishly, blushing a bit in response.

“As I said, I do apologize for the scare. But for not having hearts, you sure aren’t heartless.”

Orange and Red both laughed, shaking their heads. Blue and Papyrus both groaned dramatically, but didn’t leave the room. (It was becoming increasingly clear that when the younger princess made jokes, they tolerated them if they were bad for her sake. Especially since she didn’t make jokes very often.)

“what the hell even scared you so bad?” Red sighed, running his hand over his skull. (Followed, of course, by Papyrus and Blue squawking about his language.)

“Ah…a, erm…a zombie…” May answered sheepishly. The four knights stared at her.

“a what?” both Orange and Red deadpanned at her.

“A zombie…i-it’s an enemy in the game. And they – like many enemies in the game – rather relentlessly attack you until you either get away from them, or slay them. It’s not pleasant.”

The knights cringed and shook their heads in agreement.

“what even is this game?” Orange replied, gesturing to the screen. The princess turned around with a sigh and dropped back on the couch, picking up her controller again.

“It’s called Minecraft. I’m quite fond of it because it has a very creative aspect to it, since you build just about everything in the game. And you can build almost anything! It’s wonderful!” she gushed, continuing her exploration through the cave she was in.

“WHAT CAN YOU DO IN THIS GAME BESIDES BUILD?”

“Well, you can mine things, as the title suggests. And you can plant and farm food, raise animals, tame cats and dogs and horses, fight enemies, explore caves and temple ruins, trade with villagers as merchants, fish, swim, generally explore the world, enchant items, create potions…there is _so_ much to do in Minecraft! And that’s without mods!”

“MODS?”

“GOODNESS! THAT SOUNDS OVERWHELMINGLY INTRIGUING!!”

“It really is! And as for your question, Sir Papyrus…honestly, it would be better for you to look up mods yourself than to have me explain it. I couldn’t do it justice.”

Papyrus nodded, rubbing his mandible in thought as she continued to play, quickly becoming absorbed in the game again.

“AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW, MAY?”

“I’m exploring this cave and trying to mine things. But I keep getting attacked by – _yeep! Sky Creeper!_ GETAWAYGETAWAYGETAWAYGETAWAY!!”

Her noise had the knights cringing, but now they understood her distress, as the hissing cactus-like creature followed her as she attempted to run away.

“WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF IT CATCHES YOU?”

“It’ll – _oh god!_ What – OH NO, NONONONONO!! Aww…drat…I died…”

May pouted, having watched her character try to dart across a bridge, then something hit her, knocking her off the bridge and sent her plummeting to her death.

“OH GOODNESS! YOU EXPLODED!!”

“I know… that happens when you die in Minecraft. All of your things kind of…go everywhere. Ugh, I’ve been at this for hours, and it’s always the mobs that kill me! I’m no good fighting the darn things! I’m getting June,” she huffed, putting the controller down and standing again, leaving the room to fetch her sister. She came back a few minutes later with the elder princess and the two remaining knights.

“What’s on your mind, May?” June finally asked as May flopped (slightly dramatically) onto the couch again. The blue-eyed princess reached forward, ignoring her own controller and pulling out another one, then holding it out for June, pouting. June blinked, glancing from the offered controller to the screen before starting to laugh.

“Were you playing Minecraft alone again?”

“Yes…”

“And you died to the mobs again, didn’t you?”

“Yes…”

June was laughing harder now, and May was blushing, frustrated.

“I can’t help it that there was a sky Creeper!”

“Aww, poor baby girl…” June cooed, full body laughing when May leapt up and swatted angrily at her sister.

“Just…! Shut up and help me! You jerk!”

Once June finally settled down and took the controller, vaulting over the back of the couch to sit next to her sister with a grin.

“Don’t worry, darling. I won’t let those nasty creatures get the better of you again.~”

May giggled, then scooped up her own controller and unpaused the game for the two of them to begin playing. Both girls missed the way Sans and Red both shuddered and Orange snickered as June’s comment reminded each of them of a certain monster they knew.

“Alright, hang on. Let me TP to you and we’ll give those nasty critters what for.”

“Okay! Sounds good!”

The girls played for a bit with the knights watching, with June slaying enemies and providing support while May continued her explorations and crafting. Eventually, Papyrus and Blue both became enraptured by the princesses’ teamwork and begged to play as well.

“WE WILL CATCH ON QUICKLY!!”

“ESPECIALLY IF IT IS YOU WHO TEACHES US!!”

There was a pause where June snorted sharply, the Fell knights snickering as well, but May just looked blankly at her amused sister.

“I don’t understand what about that you found so funny, June…but I for one would be glad to teach you how to play, sir knights!”

More snickering came from the Fell knights, but they were quickly silenced by Sans and Orange’s elbows to their sides. May set up two more controllers for them and began teaching them how to play. (They died several times as they tried to be a little too zealous with her instructions.) After they got the hang of it, June went back to her role of support, teaching them how to fight and defend themselves. During her lesson, however, her character registered getting hit.

“Ow! What the hell?” she growled, whipping her character around in circles until she spotted the problem.

“May, get moving! Sniper!”

“Sniper?” May gasped, instantly ducking for cover. “I’m safe! Go for it!”

“Alright, boys. Time to learn how to deal with the creatures that master the bow and arrow. Get out here, you little chicken shit. Time to get wasted,” she snarled, shooting an arrow of her own into a tree.

As her bow was enchanted with flame, the arrow set the tree on fire and burned it down, revealing what had attacked. All the knights stiffened when the offending creature was a Minecraft Skeleton.

Before any of them could get a word out, June switched to her sword and charged, striking the skeleton until it fell over and disappeared.

“Okay. Sniper dealt with. You’re safe to come out, May.”

“Oh, good,” the younger sister replied, leaving her hiding spot. “Those are always so scary! You never know where they are in the dark like that…”

June hummed in agreement, then both noticed the awkward air in the room.

“Is everything alright, sir knights?” June asked slowly, piloting her character with May’s indoors before hitting pause on her screen. Papyrus and Blue barely managed to follow to safety before putting down their controllers.

“I…AM NOT SURE I WISH TO PLAY THIS ANYMORE,” Papyrus said softly, Blue nodding in agreement. The girls were both rather confused.

“But why? I thought you were having so much fun before! What happened?” May inquired, genuinely not understanding the problem. Her sister, however, stayed quiet, thinking. As soon as it dawned on her, though, June’s face went blank with dark realization and she ceased the younger’s continued ramblings with a quiet, “Oh.”

Guilt crossed June’s face as May turned to her.

“What? What is it?”

“They…May, think about it. What kind of enemy is a sniper?”

May blinked, thinking it a trick question at first.

“A skeleton, of course. Oh,” she said, instantly realizing. Guilt crashed over her as well.

“Oh…oh dear. I…I’m so sorry, sir knights. I wasn’t thinking. I don’t know why I didn’t think about the fact…humans…are rather cruel sometimes, aren’t they?” she finished in a whisper, laying down her own controller. Once she did, the younger pulled her knees up and tucked them under her chin, hugging them quietly.

June, while having put down her controller as well, had yet to actually release it, tracing invisible patterns with her nail onto the plastic unconsciously as she thought. She was a torn. Clearly, Minecraft wasn’t a game best played around their skeletal guardians. At the same time, it was fun to play, and easily addicting if you played with more than one person. If only that sniper hadn’t spawned and attacked when it did…well, they’d still run into this issue, as a Skeleton would have spawned eventually, but…June’s fingers stopped as she sat up straighter, a new thought crossing her mind. What if running into enemies…didn’t have to happen at all?

A smirk wormed its way onto her face as she turned to May.

“I’ve got an idea. So we can all still play, but not be uncomfortable about it,” she added, quickly scooping her own controller back up. “What if we change the difficulty?”

“Play on a different setting?” May replied, hope in her tone as she uncurled from her position. June nodded, a full blown grin on her face now.

“But what – oh!”

“You thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Peaceful?” May answered, June’s enthusiasm becoming infectious.

“Peaceful.”

“WHAT IS PEACEFUL?” asked Blue, all the skeletons eyeing the princesses warily. “AND WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH THIS GAME?”

“You see, Blue,” May began, pulling her knees up to her chest again as she picked up her controller, “This game is one of many that have a variety of difficulty settings. Usually they range from easy to hard or ‘normal’ to very hard. Minecraft, however, is special. You see, even on the least challenging difficulty setting, most games would still have enemies attacking you and some sort of functional combat. But Minecraft is unique in the fact that it has a difficulty setting below even the base level of other games. It’s called peaceful.”

“On peaceful, the enemies no longer spawn. Literally nothing hostile can exist in peaceful mode, so encountering and fighting enemies is no longer an issue.”

Blue and Papyrus lit up at this.

“SO WE WILL NOT HAVE CAUSE TO SLAY ENEMIES ON PEACEFUL?!”

“Correct, Sir Papyrus!”

Both skeletons practically squealed at this information, begging the princesses to change the difficulty setting to peaceful so they could continue to play the game in…well, peace. The sisters were all too happy to oblige, and they continued the gaming until well into the night, when three of the four gamers could say awake no more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Game night, anyone? ;) Don't worry - every time there is a "part 1" in the title, expect there to be more scenarios on that topic later. So more bonding scenes to come! Oh, and I know this one was on the shorter side, but as I just let the scenes unfold rather than aim for a specific word or page count, it makes the chapters vary in length. It feels more organic to me, though, so hopefully, no one minds. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this one, and see you next week for more!


	9. Lessons in Cooking

May was headed towards the kitchen, trying to decide what to have as a snack, when she spotted Papyrus sneaking towards the kitchen. Alone. Oh no. She was not about to let this happen. Stealthily stepping behind him, she paused and waited to see if he detected her. He didn’t.

“ _Ahem._ ”

At the sound, Papyrus froze, then whipped around, trying to appear innocent but also looking alarmed.

“PRINCESS MAY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!”

“I think the better question is what are _you_ doing here, Sir Papyrus?”

“I…WAS GETTING A SNACK!”

“What a funny coincidence. So was I. But you know you still need someone to accompany you to the kitchen, yes? Those were the rules.”

He started to protest, but quickly deflated, looking thoroughly chastised.

“YOU ARE RIGHT, PRINCESS. I KNEW BETTER, AND YET I STILL ATTEMPTED TO BREAK THE RULES! BUT IT HAS BEEN QUITE A WHILE SINCE I LAST COOKED, A-AND I LOVE COOKING, EVEN THOUGH I MAY NOT REALLY BE THE BEST AT IT, TO BE HONEST. B-BUT IT WAS HOW I MET SOME OF MY BESTEST FRIENDS, AND I HAD H-HOPED TO DO SO WITH Y-YOU AND YOUR SISTER, AND –”

A hiccup stopped him as he tried not to get too worked up, his eye sockets brimming with orange-tinted tears. May’s reaction was instantaneous, her teasing expression softening to sympathy as she wrapped him in a hug.

“Oh, Sir Papyrus! Please don’t cry! I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you…”

Papyrus was a little hesitant at first, but hugged her back, his tall frame curling around her smaller one with ease.

“I’m so sorry, Sir Papyrus. I know we haven’t had much opportunity for the cooking lessons my sister and I promised you. That is no excuse for hurting you, however. How about we have your first cooking lesson right now, hmm?”

Papyrus perked right up at that, gasping dramatically and looking to her with sparkles in his eye sockets, all traces of tears gone. May smiled and giggled gleefully.

“I take it that sounds like a good idea? Oh, but wait! Do you think the others feel the same? Perhaps I should go fetch them as well…it would only be fair.”

May had looked away, totally missing the flash of disappointment on Papyrus’ face, but when she looked back to him, he was smiling again.

“Do you think they would want to join? Would you mind terribly if…?”

“I WOULD NOT MIND AT ALL, PRINCESS! ALL OF US COOKING TOGETHER COULD BE QUITE FUN!!”

“I’m so glad you agree!” May chirped, brightening instantly and letting go of the tall knight. “Just wait right here, Sir Papyrus. I’ll go fetch the others. And don’t start without me! That’s an order!”

“YES, YOUR HIGHNESS!!” he replied with a salute to her retreating back.

May first made her way to Blue’s room, thinking he might be there. When she knocked and he called out granting admission, she smiled as she opened the door and peeked around it.

“Blue? Do you have a moment?”

“FOR YOU, MAY, I AM ALWAYS AVAILABLE!!” he answered, quickly climbing to his feet and saluting her with a wide grin. “WHAT DO YOU REQUIRE OF THE MAGNIFICENT BLUEBERRY?”

May giggled sweetly at his enthusiasm before leaning a little more in his doorway.

“Well, I just got to thinking…I know June and I haven’t gotten around to your cooking lessons yet, and I was wondering if you missed cooking?”

“WELL, OF COURSE, MAY. BUT I KNOW I AM NOT ALLOWED INTO THE KITCHEN BY MYSELF, NOR WITH PAPYRUS OR EDGE, SO I HAVE REFRAINED FROM ENTERING WITHOUT PERMISSION. IT…HAS NOT BEEN EASY, I WILL NOT LIE,” the blue skeleton admitted, looking to her as if just saying that might get him in trouble. May’s sympathetic expression relaxed him, though.

“I understand that now, and I’m sorry for making you wait so long. Perhaps we can correct this oversight, however. Would you like to have a cooking lesson today?”

Blue gasped, his eye-lights forming stars in his excitement.

“TODAY?! AS IN, RIGHT NOW?!?!”

“Yes, Blue,” May answered with an affectionate smile. The little skeleton cheered and jumped in the air excitedly, making May giggle. He quickly tried to reign himself in, his cheekbones dusted with baby blue, but May gave him another affectionate grin that deepened his blush.

“I’m glad to hear you’re so excited, Blue. Why don’t you wait for me by the kitchen with Sir Papyrus? I still need to fetch Sir Edge,” she concluded, turning out of the doorway. She had the slightest hesitation over Edge’s name, only because she was reluctant to include him. However, it would be cruel of her not to, and she knew that. With her own reaction and hesitance over Edge, she did miss the disappointment on Blue’s face.

“VERY WELL, MAY!” he declared, recovering before she had the chance to see his reaction. “I SHALL BE WAITING BY THE KITCHEN FOR YOUR SPEEDY RETURN!!”

With that, he dashed past her and towards the stairs, accidentally sending her spinning further into the hall. A set of boney arms caught the young princess before she could fall, but it took a moment for the dizziness to clear.

“you okay, there, may?”

“Oh, Orange!” May gasped, blushing at her (yet again) ungraceful display. “I – y-yes, I’m alright. Blue was just in such a hurry to get to the kitchen…but it’s alright. I can understand his excitement. I’m hosting a cooking lesson for him and the other two today, since we haven’t had the chance to do so yet.”

“ah. that does make sense. well, just be careful. with all three of them, you might get a bit overwhelmed. each one of them can be a handful alone. it’s terrifying to think of what they’d be capable of together…”

Orange visibly shuddered, finally righting the ravenette and letting her go.

“you, uh, maybe want someone in there to watch your back? i can help at least handle my brother…”

“No, that’s okay, Orange. I think I can manage. Besides, even if they do prove to be too much for me, it would be good for me to learn how to deal with such situations. After all, a queen needs to know how to handle when her subjects are out of control. As does a princess,” she finished, holding herself high and dignified, if a little more somber than before. Orange stared at her a moment before nodding slowly.

“well, alright, kid. if you say so. just shout if you need any of us, though. ‘cause it’s also good for a queen or princess to recognize when she needs aid.”

With that, he spun on his heel and walked away. May watched him go for a minute before smiling to herself and murmuring, “Thank you, Sir Papyrus of Swap clan.”

When she turned around to head towards Edge’s room, she totally missed how Orange froze mid-stride and glanced back to her, his cheekbones tinted orange and a look of surprise on his face.

May finally came to a stop before Edge’s door and took a deep breath, forcing herself to knock.

“WHO IS IT?!”

Well, he certainly sounded grumpy.

“It’s me, Princess May.”

There was a pause before the door opened, with Edge leaning in the doorway sullenly and refusing to look at her.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT?”

Despite the grumbling way he said it, his voice was softer than before, and his tone made the normally rude words much gentler than usual. Perhaps the weeks of her giving him the cold shoulder was finally beginning to wear on him…

“Sir Papyrus brought it to my attention that my sister and I have neglected our promise of cooking lessons for you all, and I agreed to host one today. You may join us in the kitchen if you like,” she replied stiffly, turning around to walk away now that she had delivered the information.

“WAIT. TODAY AS IN, RIGHT NOW?”

“Yes. If that doesn’t inconvenience you too much,” she sniffed, barely glancing over her shoulder at him.

He remained silent long enough that she began walking back down the hall away from his door, head held high and posture perfectly composed.

“PRINCESS…YOUR HIGHNESS,” Edge corrected when she paused and turned her head ever so slightly. Once he corrected, she turned enough that she could give him her attention.

“I WILL BE A MOMENT, BUT I WILL BE THERE.”

“Very well, Sir Edge,” May nodded regally, turning back around. “But don’t drag your feet. I won’t keep the other two waiting forever.”

She left without another word, heading down the stairs and back towards the kitchen. Once she got there and saw the other two knights waiting with stars and sparkles in their eyes, she relaxed into a more genuine and easy smile.

“Come along, you two. We shall have to wait for Sir Edge to join us, but I don’t think he’ll be long.”

The two excitable knights nodded, following her into the kitchen and standing at the counter, waiting for her first instructions. First, though, she had to decide what to do!

“Hmm…since this is so spur of the moment, I haven’t the faintest what to teach you about…perhaps I can aid each of you in your special dishes you make, as I know how to make all of them myself. How does that sound?”

“A WONDERFUL IDEA, MAY!!”

“TRULY BRILLIANT!!” Papyrus agreed. She blushed and giggled, hiding behind her hand a bit.

“Ah, don’t praise me just yet. I have yet to teach you anything! Ah, Sir Edge. There you are. We were just about to start. I’ll be helping all of you prepare your signature dishes, but as I am only one person, we’ll have to go one at a time. Otherwise, the kitchen will become too chaotic. Alright?”

The three skeletal knights nodded, Edge bringing in stools for the three of them to sit on. May smiled to each one, though it was a bit strained towards Edge.

“Alright then. Who would like to go first?”

Blue shot up before the other two could react, bounding to her side.

“ME, MAY! PLEASE ALLOW ME TO GO FIRST!!”

May giggled and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder to calm Blue, looking to the other two.

“Is that alright with you both?”

“YES, YOUR HIGHNESS! I DO NOT MIND WAITING MY TURN!!” Papyrus returned cheerfully, beaming to her. Edge just shrugged and _hmph_ ed, as if he didn’t care.

“Very well, then. You are first, Blue.”

He cheered and jumped in the air again, only May’s hand gently but firmly holding onto his arm stopping him from dashing about for his usual ingredients.

“Why don’t you and I start from the beginning, hmm? That means we gather the ingredients together, so I can tell you what should and shouldn’t go into your tacos.”

“VERY WELL, MAY! LEAD THE WAY!!”

May nodded, glancing to the other two as she lead him over to the fridge.

“First things first, we need the meat. Oh, and you two should both pay attention to what we’re doing, in case any part of it applies to your dishes as well.”

Papyrus nodded, watching with rapt attention. Edge merely sighed and eyed them from his peripheral vision, sulking.

“Now, before we brown the meat, we’ll need to get the spices and seasonings. Those are over here. Let’s see…there don’t seem to be any pre-made seasoning packets, but that’s alright. We can make it from scratch. It’s the best way to have it, honestly. Now, what seasonings do you usually put in your taco meat?”

“GARLIC, ONION, AND CHILI POWDER; PAPRIKA; CUMIN; SALT; PEPPER; OREGANO; RED PEPPER FLAKES; AND GLITTER!!”

“Alright, that…wait, glitter?” she stopped, frowning and glancing down at him.

“YES! THE GLITTER IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART!!”

May looked a little worried as she slowly continued gathering everything but the glitter he asked for.

“Why, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“TO BRIGHTEN THE PERSON’S DAY! FROM INSIDE THEM!!”

“Okay…” May replied slowly, carefully putting down the spices she’d gathered onto the counter. “Um, Blue? Please tell me you at least use edible glitter.”

He blinked blankly at her, staring.

“THERE IS A DIFFERENCE?”

May froze, trying to resist looking too horrified. She managed a look that was somewhere between disturbed and panic, then relaxed her face and took a deep breath.

“Yes. There is a very big difference. You see, the regular glitter that you would use in arts and crafts is not edible. It isn’t designed to be eaten, so it is made of plastic, stone, glass, metal, and sometimes insects. And those can be harmful to humans if we eat them. Not to mention, most craft glitter tends to be very flammable, so there is a high risk of setting anything with glitter in it ablaze.”

May didn’t realize until that moment that it was possible for a skeleton to pale, but somehow, Blue did it, his eye-lights shrinking and his skeletal grin falling slack. May could see the building panic and horror on his face, and attempted to head it off.

“But! But, it’s okay. No one has died or gotten hurt or sick from eating your tacos, have they?”

“WELL…NO. NOT THAT I KNOW OF.”

“So you see? Even though you were using the wrong type of glitter, no one was hurt. And it’s an honest enough mistake to make. I’m sure I would have made that same mistake if I had been allowed to cook before I learned the difference.”

“BUT THEN…WHAT IS IT ABOUT EDIBLE GLITTER THAT MAKES IT SAFE FOR HUMANS TO EAT?”

“Well, often times, edible glitter is just sugar that has been dyed with a certain amount of food coloring to change its color. It tends to be very sweet.”

“LIKE YOU?”

May was caught off guard by the comment, going speechless for a minute as she blushed and floundered for an answer.

“Ah, um, I…thank you, Blue. That’s…nice of you to say…”

Blue beamed and blushed a bit himself for being so bold, striking a pose and laughing his signature laugh. May shook her head and tried to focus, getting out a skillet to brown the meat in.

“We should…get back to cooking. Um. Yes. Anyway. So, now that you know there is such a thing as edible glitter, the option is open for you to use it. Would you like me to find it for you? Remember, before you answer, think – edible glitter is made of sugar, so it’s sweet. It would make the meat taste sweet as well. Is that what you want?”

Blue thought about it, then nodded slowly, as if he wasn’t sure that was the right answer. She smiled at him, though with the barest hint of hesitation.

“Very well, Blue. If that’s what you want to try this time, then that’s what we’ll do. But we’ll have to add it last so the glitter doesn’t burn in the pan while the meat browns.”

“OKAY, MAY!” he chirped as she got down the edible glitter. She set it aside for later and turned on one of the burners, dumping the meat into the skillet and placing it on the burner while she looked for a spatula. Once she turned back, she saw him at the skillet with the heat cranked up higher than she thought it could go. She gasped and scrambled to turn the heat down again.

“Blue! What on earth were you doing?”

“COOKING THE MEAT! IF YOU COOK IT AT A HIGHER TEMPERATURE, IT COOKS FASTER!!”

“Yes, that may be true, but you need to be careful. If you try to cook it too quickly, the meat won’t turn out right. The outside will be cooked or burned, but the inside won’t be anywhere close to done. That’s why it’s better to cook it at a lower setting – about here is usually safe,” she added, showing him where she had the dial set to. He frowned and looked at her skeptically.

“ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THIS, MAY? ALPHYS SAYS IT’S BEST TO COOK THE MEAT REALLY FAST SO YOU CAN MOVE ON QUICKLY, AND TO COOK IT AT A REALLY HIGH TEMPERATURE, SO IT’S LIKE YOU’RE COOKING IT IN THE FIRES OF YOUR PASSION!!”

“THAT IS WHAT UNDYNE SAYS ABOUT MAKING SPAGHETTI!!” Papyrus chimed in enthusiastically from his seat, beaming to Blue. May sighed. Evidently, the Alpha clan Undyne and Swap clan Alphys were not very good cooks. But it was helpful to know where these two got their skills. (Or lack thereof.)

“To answer your question, Blue. Yes, I am sure. You see, while what Alphys – and your Undyne, Sir Papyrus – taught you is…an interesting and very unique way of cooking your dishes, it is special to them. They taught you all their method of cooking, and now I’m teaching you mine. So if it sounds as if I am contradicting what you have already learned, think of it as learning a new style to what you already know.”

Blue and Papyrus both nodded, absorbing what she said with thoughtful expressions. Edge, too, looked thoughtful, but he also seemed to be looking at her with a new level of respect. (She chose not to dwell on it too long. She had to focus on guiding Blue through the rest of his dish!)

“Now, while I brown the meat, why don’t you fetch a bowl and measure out how much of each of the spices we’ll need mixed into the meat?”

“YES, MAY!!”

Blue instantly went and got a bowl to mix the seasonings together, plopping it down next to where May had placed the different seasonings. He then began to reach for the first one, then hesitated, frowning.

“MAY?”

“Yes, Blue?”

“WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY MEASURE OUT THE SEASONINGS?”

May looked at him with a blank expression for a moment before shaking off the surprise and taking him over to get the measuring spoons.

“You only need certain amounts of the different ingredients to achieve the flavor you want. After all, there is such a thing as too much flavoring. So you use these to get small amounts of the seasoning you want and put them into the bowl. If you’re doing it from scratch and not using a recipe for it, it’s better write down how much you use of each one so you can adjust it or remember the recipe you used later. Get a pencil and some paper before you put anything in the bowl and write down how much of each seasoning you use, alright?”

“OKAY!!”

May cooked in silence for a bit, browning the meat while he got the pencil and paper. Blue then quietly used the measuring spoons and wrote down everything he did, concentrating as he worked on the right mixture of seasonings. Once he had what he deemed enough he got her attention once more. Having finished browning the meat, May pulled it off the heat and turned to him.

“Is the seasoning ready?”

“I BELIEVE SO!”

“Alright. Let’s mix it together and taste it before we put it on the meat, then.”

He nodded, getting a spoon to help her mix the seasonings together. As she mixed, he added the edible glitter, making the girl giggle at his antics. Once there was enough and the ingredients thoroughly mixed, she removed the spoon and leaned conspiratorially down to his level.

“Now, you didn’t see me do this, because it’s unbecoming of a lady or a princess, but…”

Here she trailed off, delicately licking the tip of her finger and dipping it into the seasoning mix. She then returned her fingertip to her mouth and closed her eyes to focus on the flavor. She opened her eyes again almost immediately.

“Goodness! That’s…a lot of pepper. And glitter. It’s got heat and sweetness to it that I doubt anyone will be expecting. Not bad, Blue, but certainly surprising. Go ahead and taste it yourself. See what you think before we add it to the meat.”

Blue nodded, removing one of his gloves to taste-test his mix. May got a brief peek at his glowing ecto-tongue when he opened his mouth, but she tried not to stare (despite not having seen it before – or any of their tongues, for that matter). His eye-lights formed stars again when he tasted it.

“YOU’RE RIGHT, MAY! IT IS PRETTY HOT!! BUT THE SWEETNESS MAKES FOR A GOOD DISTRACTION FROM THE HEAT! I LOVE IT!!!”

“Well…if you really like it like that, then we’ll add it the way it is. Just remember that not everyone will agree with you on the flavor, so you may have to tweak it in the future. For now, though, it will be fine. There we go. Now we make sure the meat is good and coated with the seasoning mix…oh, and I should have asked this earlier. Would you like to do hard shells, or soft?”

Blue thought about it, then declared he wanted hard shells. May smiled, relieved that he chose the easier option.

“Very well. While potentially messier, hard shells are easier to prepare. Especially when you have ones already pre-made, like we do. There would be an extra step for me to teach you if you picked soft-shelled tacos, but we can save that bit for another day. Now, with these, not everyone is going to want the same thing on their tacos, so it’s best to set out various topping items for people to pick and choose from. For example, I like cheese, lettuce, and a bit of sour cream on mine; but I know June prefers hers with cheese, lettuce, tomato, and a dash of hot sauce.”

“I SEE! SO IT IS BETTER TO LET THOSE EATING TO BUILD THEIR OWN TACOS FROM THE BASE INGREDIENTS!”

“That’s right! That way, everyone gets what they want, and everyone is happy,” May cheered with a bright smile.

Together, the two of them set aside the tacos for later and left the dishes to the side of the sink for now. Then it was Papyrus’ turn.

His lesson was similar to Blue’s but with spaghetti instead of tacos. Papyrus had made note of the edible glitter thing and the don’t-cook-the-thing-on-maximum-heat thing from Blue’s lesson, but May did still have to avoid a couple of potential disasters. Like Papyrus trying to make the sauce from scratch (which wasn’t a bad idea, but his method left something to be desired), and May having to switch him to the jarred spaghetti sauce variety. Or him attempting to stir the spaghetti noodles so vigorously that water was almost sloshing out of the pot. (She explained to him that doing so would not make the noodles cook faster or better, and in fact that method was dangerous for humans to do, as the boiling water could burn human skin. He calmed after that, as she was standing so close to him while she helped him with the dish.)

Once all was said and done with Papyrus (and May was satisfied that the dish was now edible, if the sauce a tad sweet from the edible glitter), they again set the dish aside and the dishes to be done later. And so it fell to Edge’s turn.

“Lasagna, then. I’ll make the sauce, you prepare the noodles,” she said briskly, heading off any potential sauce disasters with Edge. She paused and sighed to herself before turning back to him as he fetched the box of noodles.

“Will you be adding edible glitter to your dish as well? There isn’t much left, but I can add it to the sauce for you if you want it.”

“NO. WHY WOULD I PUT GLITTER IN MY DISH? THERE IS NO POINT TO THAT. I PREFER TO ADD METAL SHAVINGS TO MY LASAGNA.”

May hummed in an I’m-not-really-listening-but-pretending-to kind of way before the words processed, which made her do a double take and stare at him in shock.

“Why?!”

“TO TOUGHEN UP THOSE THAT EAT IT!!”

May stared at him hard for a good few seconds before she sighed, shook her head, and turned back to the sauce she was trying to prepare.

“Why am I even surprised?” she sighed. “Sir Edge, you cannot add metal shavings to dishes you intend to serve to humans.”

“WHY NOT?” the dark knight demanded.

“Because the metal would damage the human’s sensitive internal organs, causing internal bleeding; punctures to the stomach, throat, mouth, and several other organs; and eventually death. If they somehow manage to survive the internal bleeding and all that, then there is also the fact that some metals, particularly when heated and/or consumed, are poisonous to humans. It would render the dish lethal and inedible. That is why you cannot add metal shavings to anything you wish to serve to a human.”

Edge froze and paled, shrinking a little at the new information.

“OH.”

May hummed distantly, still paying more attention to the sauce than Edge. He quietly prepared the noodles beside her, following some of her instructions from Papyrus’ lesson. The silence between them was tense and awkward, though, and Edge did end up getting a bit too rough with his stirring, accidentally splashing May’s arm. She cried out in pain, clutching the spot where she was scalded as Blue and Papyrus gasped. She held up a hand for all of them to refrain from helping her, though, as she made her way over to the sink and doused her arm in cold water.

“ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!” Blue asked worriedly. May’s nod was stiff, but not cold like she would have been with Edge.

“Yes, I’ll be alright. It’s times like this that I’m glad I was gifted with healing magic, though. It comes in handy more often than one would think,” she sighed, removing her arm from under the water and gingerly drying it. Once that was done, she activated her magic and sent her healing back into herself, shuddering as the reddening mark began to fade and disappear.

After she was done healing, the other two insisted she sit and let Edge take over while she observed and taught from a more restful (and safe) spot. She frowned at all the fussing, but allowed them to pull a stool around so she could sit and watch instead. After all, getting mildly burned after teaching two exuberant skeletons how to cook their specialty dishes was tiring…

However, every time she saw him start to do something he shouldn’t, she would be compelled to reach out and stop him. Every time, she would be a little more like herself, her touch when she stopped him light and gentle. Then, she would remember herself and take a breath, forcing herself to be harsher and blunter with him. Never rough or explicitly mean, but she was having suppress her usually kind and sweet nature, and it was painful to watch.

“No, no, no, no, no…” she murmured softly as Edge tried to remove the lasagna from the oven. She closed her eyes, took a breath, and slid off her stool, carefully taking the dish away from him and sliding it back into the oven.

“For the fourth time, it’s not ready yet. You can’t take it out until it’s cooked through and the cheese on the top is crusted and golden,” May chided, hands on her hips.

Edge was absolutely fed up with her scolding and cold shoulder tactics and general hot-and-cold back and forth. She watched him throw his hands in the air before just letting loose.

“ _GRRR-AAH!!!_ I _KNOW_ THAT!! YOU HAVE SAID IT SO MANY TIMES THAT I DOUBT I’D BE ABLE TO FORGET IT! IT’S JUST THAT SO MUCH HAS CHANGED, AND CONTINUES TO CHANGE! I HARDLY WANTED TO COME HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE, BUT YOU AND YOUR SISTER HAD ME CURIOUS. THAT AND I HAD NO REAL CHOICE IN COMING, BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT. I HAVE ALWAYS TRIED TO BE STRONG – AND I AM – BUT THERE IS SOMETHING ABOUT BEING HERE WITH EVERYONE THAT JUST DOESN’T MAKE ANY SENSE TO ME!! YOU ALL GET ALONG SO WELL AND ARE SO WEAK WITH EACH OTHER, AND YET YOU GET STRONGER BECAUSE OF IT. THEN, AS I BEGIN TO THINK I UNDERSTAND, YOU BECOME ALL ICY TO ME! AND IT MANAGES TO-TO MAKE ME _FEEL BAD?!_ AND I JUST – I JUST WANT TO DO THE RIGHT THING AND I APPEAR UNABLE TO DO SO! SO CAN YOU JUST… _HELP ME UNDERSTAND?!?!_ ”

Edge huffed at the end of his rant, staring down at her while he seethed for a moment. She continued to return his look with a frosty, challenging half-glare of her own, watching as the realization of all that he’d blurted out dawned on him, his skull going from pale to glowing red in seconds. His eye-lights even shrank down to the tiniest pinpricks possible, and he opened and shut his mouth a few times, trying to come up with something to cover for what he’d just said.

May, however, let him flounder for a moment longer, searching for any sign that he would retract what he said, or didn’t mean it. Once it was clear that he was serious (if shocked at himself and embarrassed), May, for the first time in weeks, relaxed around Edge. She allowed her hands to fall off her hips as she rocked back a little, a sweet and endearing (if a bit smug) smile forming on her lips.

“That’s what I wanted to hear,” the young princess replied softly, hopping back up onto her stool. Edge blushed further, seeming to short circuit at both her smile and her words.

A few seconds later, three distinct voices yelped at the same time, causing all in the kitchen to jump.

\-------------

June could smell the food cooking from her studio, and having no inspiration right then anyway, she made her way towards the kitchen. Once she arrived outside the door, however, she found Sans, Red, and Orange all crowded around the edge of the door, frozen. What on earth had them all so tense? Well, it didn’t seem to matter, as none of them seemed to realize she was there, and she took the pranking opportunity as it was presented to her.

Tiptoe-ing up to them, she crouched conspiratorially next to them and waited for a couple seconds before whispering, “What are we doing?”

Her seemingly sudden and unexpected appearance made all three yelp in shock, vanishing on the spot. And as if that wasn’t funny enough, it seemed none of them had planned where they wanted to teleport to, because they all ended up in random locations: Sans landed with an oof as he now hung over the banister of the stairs; Orange clung to the top of a bookcase positioned in the living room; and Red was barely holding on to the chandelier above the couch.

Sensing the three skeletons glaring at her didn’t help June any as she doubled over and shook from the effort of containing her laughter. In fact, she wound up curled up on the floor, she was trying to laugh so hard. Immediately after, she heard May’s voice in the kitchen, and the scraping of metal on stone. Four sets of footsteps stopped near her, and there was a pause as the four took in the scene.

“What…” May started, perplexed. “What are…June? Why are you on the floor? Why are you laughing?”

Upon hearing her sister questioning what the hell was going on, the elder princess could contain it no longer, and burst out laughing. It took a long while for her to calm enough that May could get in a question edge-wise, and by the time she did, the younger’s exasperation was clear.

“Did you have something to do with this?”

June’s laughter started up anew, but rather than wheezing out an answer, she sucked in a deep breath and shouted, “YES!” before continuing her literal rolling on the floor and laughing. May sighed as her sister roared, tears in her eyes and face flushed from laughing so hard.

“Well, have fun with that. The lasagna should almost be done, so when it is, an early dinner is served. Come along, you three. We still have to finish up and clean the dishes we dirtied for your lessons.”

The four returned to the kitchen, leaving June and the other three knights to sort out their own mess. Once June was able to calm herself, she sat up, grinning from ear to ear and wiping the tears from her eyes.

“Oh my god, I haven’t laughed that hard in ages,” she sighed. “What were you all doing hovering outside the kitchen, anyway?”

“we were makin’ sure your sister didn’t need our help with her cooking lesson for our bros,” Sans answered, not bothering to move from where he was on the banister.

“Cooking lesson? Oh, is that what that was? Makes sense I was smelling food for so long, then. But in all seriousness, May is plenty capable of handling herself. It’s sweet of you all to worry, but if she truly needed help, she would ask for it. She knows when she’s beaten.”

“we were –” Red started dryly, having to pause as he lost his grip on the chandelier and dropped onto the couch below, “also tryin’ ta make sure our bros didn’t poison her or anything.”

June snorted, her pale cheeks still pink from her earlier laughing fest.

“Not possible. At least, not that we’ve seen. One unknown perk we found early on into the assassination attempts, was that May’s poison magic not only allowed her to detect poison in food and drink, but also be immune to it. Who knew?”

All three skeletons paused, as if that being a possibility hadn’t even crossed their minds. Then Orange, who was climbing down the front of the bookcase he had landed on like the shelves were rungs on a ladder, had his foot slip, toppling a couple books from the shelves as he scrambled for purchase again. June giggled at this and used her blue magic to help him down, also picking up Sans and levitating him over closer to them.

“thanks,” they both muttered to her, which got her giggling again.

“don’t go into a laughing fit again,” Red grumbled from where he lay on the couch, “we don’t need ya breakin’ on us.”

June shook her head, smiling in amusement.

“Unlikely to happen again. Like I said, I haven’t laughed that hard in ages. It’s rare to catch me like that. And quite frankly…something I’m beginning to think I missed. But enough of that,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “Let’s all go see how our siblings fared in this cooking lesson, shall we?”

She got up from the floor and stretched, shuffling into the kitchen.

Sans, Red, and Orange glanced to each other before following her. Unlikely to happen again? With them around? Yeah right…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> May's not meant to be a mean person...but she still hasn't totally forgiven Edge yet! After all, he _did_ attack and harm June. She's not gonna let that go so easy. But they're getting there! Also, cooking is fun. And so is startling skeletons who can teleport. ;)
> 
> Oh, but on that note, this is the last of my pre-written chapters, so updates from here on out will probably be much slower coming. I will continue to update, however, so never fear! There is still much planned for our favorite skellies...and boy, are they going to have a wild ride!
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this one as usual! Until next time, my lovelies.


	10. Training the Knights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise! I finished the new chapter in time to update! ...only to end up posting it late because of stuff going on in my life. Sorry, guys! But this time for real, from here on out, the chapters won't be updating as often, since I don't have them backlogged like I do in BtM. Again, sorry! But for now, I hope you enjoy this one, and see you next time for more!

May and June were having a day to themselves when the knights began to hear yelling. Coming to check on the two, they found the princesses standing in May’s room, arguing heatedly.

“And I’m telling you, I won’t do that one!” June exclaimed, throwing her hands out to either side of her.

“Why, because it’s Pop?” May accused, putting her hands on her hips and leaning forward.

“ _No,_ because it _sucks!_ ” June retorted.

“No it doesn’t! You just don’t like it because the lyrics are too fast for you to keep up!”

“ _I fucking rap along to half the songs you like to sing to!_ ”

“ _That’s because I can’t rap worth a darn!_ ”

June roared in frustration, pacing in a small circle while May huffed in exasperation and rolled her eyes.

“Ugh, _why_ do we always end up arguing about this?” June grouched, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Because it’s the same thing we always argue about on our bonding days when we spend too long on music,” May sighed.

“Says the one who is always saying ‘one more song, one more song’.”

“Says the one who never says no until we end up fighting over the music.”

“You know there’s only one way to settle this, right?”

“Is there ever any other option?”

June grinned, an almost evil and competitive grin, while May got a sassy and competitive smirk of her own. They both turned to leave the room, a determined spark in their eyes, when they finally spotted the confused knights standing in the doorway and lingering in the hall.

“Oh! Hello, sir knights. Our fighting didn’t disturb you, did it?” May inquired, looking apologetic.

“Why else would they have come running if they hadn’t heard us yelling at each other? They are not accustomed to our volume levels yet, May,” June chided, slightly surprised, but not fazed by the presence of the skeletal knights. May made a face and glared at her sister.

“I know that. We’re not in the castle back home, and they are not our servants. They aren’t used to our relationship dynamic yet, so every time one of us makes a significant amount of noise, they have to come check on us.”

“That, and it’s their job to keep us safe. Too much noise or not enough could mean that we are in danger, and they need to see if we are alright.”

“I _know that,_ ” May sighed, rolling her eyes and putting a hand on her hip. June rolled her eyes right back and sneered lightly.

“Well, aren’t we just a little miss know-it-all?”

“Hardly!” May declared, “Besides, if anyone was a know-it-all, it would be you, miss I-have-flirted-with-most-of-my-tutors-since-I-was-a-girl.”

June snorted sharply, but didn’t look the slightest bit ashamed of the accusation, turning up her nose at her sister.

“I hardly see how it is my fault that I find those with intelligence attractive.”

“Oh, and it certainly did not hurt that Mother always selected tutors young enough to be able to relate to us. Nor that all of them were physically good looking.”

“Never,” June agreed, her expression a combination of mildly lustful and fond remembrance. It made the knights blush and some of them fidget, reminding the princesses of their presence.

“You are absolutely shameless, sister mine,” May sighed, blushing herself and delicately touching a couple fingers to her forehead. June snickered in response.

“Of course I am. Now, are we going to get this started and perhaps explain to the knights what it is we will be doing, or are we going to continue standing here chit-chatting the day away?”

May again sighed, rolling her eyes once more, but this time, she had a small smile on her lips.

“We shall explain, of course! Better not to delay this any longer. So, sir knights. Apologies for ignoring you for so long. But to explain what my sister and I have been doing and are about to do…sometimes we argue over trivial things, like music choice. In those instances where we cannot agree, nor agree to disagree, we play a game – a competition of sorts – that we invented when we were children. It was the best way for us to decide who was right…mostly because we would end up having so much fun, we would forget what we were arguing over in the first place.”

“The game itself is an amalgamation of the games capture the flag and tag. We first decide who is first It, then the person who is It must choose an object. Once the object is chosen and placed where it is out in the open, the It person must defend their object. If the other player manages to capture the It person’s object, they must make it back to their base or safe location – commonly, wherever it is they have placed their own object. If they do so, the other player then becomes It, and the objects must be returned to the players involved, then moved to a new location. This goes on until one or the other declares they are done playing, and the winner is either whoever captured the other player’s object the most, or who defended their object the longest, depending on how the game went. If neither object was ever captured, then it is whoever was It won, as they technically defended their object the longest, and the score for both parties is zero captures each. Was that clear enough?”

The knights all nodded with varying levels of speed, depending on their enthusiasm for this “game” the girls played to solve their arguments. May smiled, glancing to her sister fondly.

“We tried many times as children to involve others in the game, but the servants around the castle had a very hard time keeping up with us. And there weren’t many other children our age growing up – especially not around the castle or court – and we weren’t allowed to play with children outside the castle when we were very young, so we often ended up playing just the two of us. But when June became old enough to start training as a knight, many adults told us we were too old to be playing games like that…and that princesses shouldn’t be caught running and screaming around the castle halls like heathens. But the head knight, Javert, saw the potential in our invented game, and began using it to train not only June, but the other knights as well. I know that he included me in the training as well at my sister’s request, since it was _our_ game to begin with, but it was still good for me to learn how to defend myself. Oh, and the knights only kept up with us marginally better than the servants,” the younger princess smirked, chuckling. A similar smirk curved June’s blood-red lips upward, a chuckle of her own escaping the elder princess.

“Tis true. When we play the game to this day, however, some of the rules Javert added are still present. Like the rule of not ‘camping’, meaning one wasn't allowed to hover near their object in order to protect it. There could be a patrol, but no camping. It was considered cheating if you camped when your object was in a room that only had one entrance or exit.”

“Oh! But the thought occurs to me! June. Why don’t we make this even more fun?” May grinned, “Since we’re already explaining the rules to the knights…”

“Have them join us and play on teams? Sounds like an excellent plan,” June replied, a wicked gleam in her eye. “And, to make things that much more interesting, we let the knights decide on whose team they would like to be on. In the meantime, let us go select and place our objects.”

“Yes, lets!”

The two girls then shimmied their way past the skeletal knights, darting in opposite directions to go pick their object to act as their “flag”. After a bit of discussion, it was decided who would pair with which princess, and the knights divided to go track down their princess.

May was found standing in her studio, holding a single ballet slipper and staring at it, obviously thinking hard. Edge, Sans, and Papyrus walked up to the focused princess with Edge clearing his throat for her attention. She looked up at them with a surprised expression, as if she had been startled out of her thoughts, but she smoothed it over with an easy smile to the three before her.

“Ah, welcome, sir knights. So I take it you three chose my team? Wonderful,” she added with a warm smile to their nods. “Well, you’ve caught me thinking of where to leave my ballet slipper, as it will act as my object. I’d rather not leave it here, as I’d rather not have my studio accidentally trashed in the wake of the game, but I’m having trouble deciding where to put it…”

“so are there any rooms that are off limits?”

“In the regular rules? No, generally not, but June and I do have unspoken rules about that. Bedrooms are usually off-limits, as no one wants to invade someone else’s privacy for the sake of a game. And in special cases, we both know to avoid rooms that one or both of us has a special attachment to. So June knows I won’t pick my studio as my base, and thus will avoid it. The same goes for me and any of her rooms except the training room. And I can almost guarantee you that she would pick it as her base. She knows it’s the obvious choice for her, but rather than try to trick me and using a different room for strategic purposes, she’ll most likely use it anyway in the hopes that I would fall for the thought that she would attempt to trick me. My sister is clever, but I know her better than she knows herself sometimes,” May explained to their taken aback expressions.

None of them had expected May to be so…well, strategically gifted. But she had been partially trained alongside knights, and her older sister was basically the royal war advisor. It made a dark and surprising kind of sense when they thought about it.

“THAT IS INCREDIBLE, PRINCESS!!” Papyrus cried, his sockets filling with sparkles. “YOU ARE SO SMART TO KNOW YOUR SISTER SO WELL!!”

May giggled and waved a hand dismissively.

“Ah, tis nothing. After all, when you are as close to your sibling as we are, you tend to know almost everything about them. Including their strategies.”

“WERE THERE ANY OTHER RULES WE SHOULD BE AWARE OF, YOUR HIGHNESS?” Edge inquired, hoping to keep the conversation on topic.

May hummed in thought, tapping her index finger against her lips.

“Well, there are a couple that come to mind. We can’t leave traps for the other team in order to protect our object. It’s another form of camping, and thus cheating. And we can’t hide the object – it has to be in plain sight wherever we leave it. Oh, and no magic.”

“WHAT?!”

“what?” all three blurted out, shocked by this rule.

“WHY NOT?!” Edge demanded.

“Because it’s cheating. It wasn’t fair to the knights we trained with to use our magic, and we were still trying to keep it a secret, so we refused to use it. When we played just the two of us, we realized using our magic was kind of like fighting dirty, and we didn’t like that. So we both agreed to only ever use our natural abilities and physical strengths unaided by magic to try and win. So I won’t use my enhanced speed or strength to win, since they are fueled by my magic. June will do the same with her strength, and neither of us will use our Soul-sensing abilities to detect the others, either. Outside of the no magic and no setting traps rules, the game is pretty much anything goes – as long as it doesn’t hurt the other players. Intentionally,” she added, glancing away as she seemed to remember something. She then shook her head and returned her attention to the skeletons before her.

“Anyway, I know that rule may be a bit difficult to get used to for you all, but I would appreciate your trying to remember it during the game. We prefer a clean and fair game, and that’s why the rules are constructed the way they are. But I do hope that doesn’t deter you from playing?”

“NOT AT ALL, PRINCESS!!” declared Papyrus proudly, puffing out his chest. “IT WILL JUST BE MORE OF A CHALLENGE TO NOT USE MAGIC! WHICH MAKES IT PERFECT FOR THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AS I LIKE CHALLENGES!! NYEH-HEH-HEH!!!”

“WHILE I DO NO OFTEN AGREE WITH HIM, THIS TIME, IT IS TRUE FOR BOTH OF US. IT WILL BE A CHALLENGE, BUT ONE I WILL BEST WITHOUT FAIL! NYAH-HAH-HAH!!!” Edge bragged, hands on his hips.

“certainly levels the playing field, huh? but that’s cool. it’ll be tricky for a lazybones like me to keep up, but i’ll still give it a shot, princess,” Sans replied with a lazy wink, putting his hands in his pockets. May giggled while the two taller knights groaned at the pun, but once they settled, May held the ballet slipper out in front of her with a frown.

“All that aside, I am still not sure where to place my slipper. Do any of you have any ideas?”

On the other side of the mansion, June was standing in the training room as her sister had predicted, nodding to herself, pleased with her choice of location. The three knights that chose her team, Red, Orange, and Blue, walked in to see her remove her object from her back pocket and step towards one of the treadmills, placing it upon the machine.

“what’d ya pick, highness?” Red asked, causing her to turn her head sharply towards the three of them. She relaxed when she saw them, though.

“Ah. Sir Red, Orange, and Blueberry. You must be on my team. Very well. I chose a paintbrush for my object. Easier to miss because of its size, but not actually hidden, and thus still within the rules. We’re not allowed to hide the object,” she explained.

“ah. any other rules we should know about?”

“No setting traps, magical or otherwise. No going into occupied bedrooms or rooms with a special meaning, like May’s studio. And no magic. Anything else is fair game.”

“no magic? why not?”

“Because it’s fairer that way. The discrepancy between what I’m capable of with my magic versus what May is capable of makes for some very dirty fighting, and that wasn’t fair to each other, or anyone else we played with. So we made a rule never to use it. And since we are not allowed to use magic, it makes sense to now extend that rule to you all as well. No magic. But, as I said, anything else is fair game. As long as it doesn’t cause intentional harm to others.”

“why ya looking at me like that?” Red demanded, looking away from June and sweating a bit.

“Because I know better than anyone else from my kingdom how monsters from your kingdom are, Sir Red. And I’m sure May is telling your brother the same thing. Though her motives will more be from her remembering our need for adjusting that rule.”

The three knights all looked to the green-eyed female with intrigue, knowing there was a story there. June hesitated, then sighed.

“Once when we were playing, May ambushed me by hiding under a bench in one of the hallways. She was still small enough to fit under it, after all, so she waited for me to come by after snatching her object and making my getaway. Once she saw me coming, she reached out and grabbed my ankle, which tripped me. I face-planted hard enough to break my nose, which started bleeding of course, and one of the servants saw the whole thing, so she was freaking out, and May crawled out from under the bench to check on me and was crying because she accidentally hurt me, and we both ended up in tears with this maid freaking out and blood everywhere, and…it was quite the mess. We then talked about it and ruled that what May did was okay, since she didn’t intend to hurt me, but we would need to be careful of becoming malicious about it in the future.”

The three knights nodded, looking sympathetic to June’s story. Just imagining the scene of the two girls crying in a castle hallway, June covered in blood, and a maid just losing it was painful.

“Anyway, there are reasons for directing that particular rule towards you two of the Fell clan. Just remember that and the rule of no magic, and this game should go pretty smoothly…assuming you all haven’t changed your minds.”

“no way. i ain’t backin’ down, even if not usin’ magic might be tough.”

“i don’t plan on going anywhere, lady june,” Orange added, glancing towards Red. The smaller Fell knight glanced to him as well, and June could swear a spark shot between their gazes. But the moment passed and Blue was speaking before she could be sure.

“IT WILL BE MOST CHALLENGING TO REMEMBER NOT TO USE MAGIC, LADY JUNE! BUT IT IS A CHALLENGE I ACCEPT AND WILL OVERCOME!! MWEH-HEH-HEH!!!”

June smiled to all three, nodding and looking like a proud troop leader or commander.

“That’s what I like to hear. Then allow me to check if the others are ready…”

June closed her eyes and focused her magic, casting her mind out with her telepathy and searching for her sister.

_May. Are you and your team ready yet?_

_Not yet,_ May thought in reply, not having telepathy of her own, yet knowing June was still tuned into her thoughts. _I was stuck on where to place my object, and the knights are helping me decide on a location._

_Ah. Very well. Shall we meet in the main hall when you are ready?_

_Sounds like plan, sister dear. We shall see you in a moment, then!_

_Agreed._

June shook off her telepathy and glanced to her three knights, all of whom were looking rather confused.

“what was that?” Red asked, and the confusion on her own face cleared.

“Ah. I forgot that monsters cannot detect when May and I use our abilities, as they only draw upon a fraction of our magic. I was using my telepathy to reach out to May. You recall I have this ability, yes?”

The three blinked, nodding. Right, June had already reminded them of the fact that the two girls were mages, and they still forgot. Forgetting was an easy thing to do when the pair didn’t often use their magic or abilities. Or at least, refrained from using their abilities around the knights.

“just easy to forget when you two act more like normal humans than mages,” Orange commented. June blinked now herself and nodded.

“This is true. My mistake. May and I have been so good about showing restraint for so long, we often just don’t think about using our abilities unless either forced to, or…we randomly remember we have them in the first place.”

Orange and Red snickered at this, getting a chuckle out of the elder princess. She finally walked past them, gesturing the three skeletons to follow her.

“Come along, sir knights. Let us make haste to the main hall. May and her team of knights should join us there shortly. Then the fun shall begin,” she added with a spark of competition burning in her eyes, and no doubt making her Soul shine brilliantly (if they could see it).

As predicted, it didn’t take May’s team long to join June’s team in the main hall. The competitive spark ran through both of them as they grinned at each other.

“Shall we begin?”

“We shall indeed. Gentleman, to your places please,” May added, her three knights lining up beside her. At a nod from June, her three did the same, each skeleton now facing down another knight.

“On your marks.”

“Get set…”

“ _Go!_ ” the princesses shouted in unison, dashing expertly past each other to avoid a head on collision. The skeletons were slower to react, but they all broke formation and began either chasing down one of the princesses, or heading to patrol their team’s base. Not a full five minutes into the game, however –

“ _Magic rule!_ ” shouted May as Red teleported ahead of her, stopping. The skeletons around her stopped where they stood as well, confused.

“Who?” June called back, freezing where she was as well. The skeletons around the elder princess slowed to a stop as well, taking the cue from her.

“Sir Red! Teleportation!”

“Dammit…” June sighed, “Alright, back to starting positions, everyone!”

“wait, we gotta start over if one of us uses magic?” Red exclaimed in disbelief. May nodded, walking alongside him as they all headed back to the main hall.

“It was the only way to enforce the rules without giving one side or the other an advantage.”

Red deflated, looking rather annoyed.

Once everyone was back in position, the girls gave them all the signal again, and the game started over. But it seemed like every few minutes, it was the same thing. The no magic rule was tripping up the skeletons in a major way, and before long (for some unfathomable reason), Red and Orange even began attacking each other – or at least, not being careful with their attacks and almost hitting each other. It was both frustrating and amusing to have to start over again and again.

Throughout the many attempts, Edge proved himself a very valuable teammate to May, protecting her from unexpected magic attacks, calling out when others were using their magic, and providing her with aid when she needed it.

(At one point, Edge boosted her to dodge something June threw as they were pursuing the older sister, and May used the boost to catch up to her sister. Just before she did, however, Blue called the no magic rule on his brother.)

Despite (or maybe because of) the teamwork (or lack thereof), the group made no real progress in the game. Then, an unexpected twist entered the fray.

Ace and Giant stepped out of their car before the mansion, Ace sighing.

“do we really have to check in on them again? we just did this last week,” the shorter Patch clan knight complained as he ran a hand over his skull. Giant sighed himself, giving his brother a deadpan look.

“Yes, We Do. We Promised To Check In On Them Weekly, So We Must Check On Them Weekly. Though Why You Are So Reluctant, Brother, I Do Not Understand.”

Ace sighed, following Giant up to the door. If it were just his counterparts, or even the excitable Princess May, he wouldn’t mind. But things hadn’t gotten any less tense between him and June…if anything, it almost seemed like the passionate, headstrong female knight had it out for him. Or at least, made it clear they were not on good terms.

On several outings, May and June had managed to sneak away from their skeletal escorts, much to their frustration and panic. The two always ended up finding the knights again, but not before the two had a “fun” story to tell. And it always started with, “June thought it was a good idea to get some air, and I agreed with her, so…” And worse was when June would split off on her own. Like a curious cat, she was always getting into something, and couldn’t be bothered to care about the possible consequences. It drove all of the knights (and her own sister) crazy, but she was a free spirit, unable to be contained.

On top of it all, for some reason, when they saw each other, it was as if both Ace and June had a natural instinct to argue with each other. They just couldn’t seem to help it. Even if it was over something stupid or insignificant. Eventually, they would push each other’s buttons enough to have their siblings scrambling to keep them from each other’s throats, and that was usually when the visits would end. And he was sure that was how this one would end, just like usual.

However, once they entered the mini-castle, the two tall knights…were met with silence. This was highly unusual, as someone was always doing something around the mansion and was there to greet them once they walked in. Instead, it was like no one was even home.

Then, May came tearing down the second floor hallway at a sprint, her long hair flying out behind her as she flew past the landing for the stairs. Next came June, who was carrying Red over her shoulder, the small skeleton clinging to her out of pure fear. June and May both were shouting as they ran.

“Papyrus, head off Blue around the library!”

“Orange! Flank Sans so he can’t intercept! Blue, reroute to me! Avoid Papyrus!”

“Sans, reroute!”

As the girls’ voices faded, in came Edge, right on June’s tail as he thundered after the two princesses, laughing maniacally down the hallway. Then, silence again.

In short? Evidently, the Patch clan knights had walked in to pure chaos.

“what the hell…?”

“I Do Not Know. But I Am Intrigued.”

They stood in the entry for a bit, waiting to see who would come flying by next. Evidently, they came back out of order, with Edge running alongside May this time and June still carrying Red, hot on their heels.

“Red, get ready to fly!” she shouted, pulling him off her shoulder. The shorter Fell skeleton had just enough time to yell back, “what?!” before he was hurled, screaming, at May.

Thinking fast, May tossed the small, thin object in her hand into the air, calling out to Edge. He turned and caught it just as Red connected with her back, knocking her down. Edge turned back and kept running, with June growling in frustration and barreling after him, completely ignoring her downed sister and skeleton she’d been carrying.

“Get to the base, Edge!” May screamed after him, staying down on the ground to catch her breath.

“you know what? i have no idea what’s going on, but whatever it is, i bet may wins,” Ace said, grinning to himself. “you?”

Giant shook his head, replying, “I Do Not Have Enough Information To Make An Educated Guess.”

Ace shrugged, still smiling to himself. Shortly after, a loud “ _Dammit!_ ” rang out, followed by a faint, but triumphant, “NYAH-HAH-HAH!” May gasped, her face lighting up from where she lay on the ground. Careful of Red, whose still form she rolled off of her, she climbed to her feet, hopeful.

“Point for May!” June shouted out, clearly very reluctantly. May squealed in delight, jumping up and down and dancing a happy little jig.

“Best two out of three!”

May giggled and called back, “You’re on!”

This was followed by various groans (the loudest from Red, still laying on the floor where May had left him, because he was the closest) and cheers from the knights. Before long, June and Edge reappeared, the paintbrush now in her hand as she went to put it back at her “base”. They were soon followed by Papyrus and Blue, with Orange and Sans teleporting in.

“man, you guys are rough…” Orange sighed once June came back.

“yeah…hate to say it, but i think i’ll have to tap out here. you two are…uh, loud, for starters,” Sans chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. “and way more competitive than i would have guessed from how close you are.”

May instantly turned to him, seeing that Orange and Red looked just as haggard has he did after all that.

“But…that’ll make the teams uneven…” she pouted, giving them all a puppy-eyed look that made them all start sweating.

“then how about a switch?” Ace suggested, raising his hand and stepping closer. “if sans wants out, i’ll take his spot. if you don’t mind me joining in, that is.”

He directed this last bit to June, who looked like she was fuming at his suggestion, but May instantly brightened, clapping her hands gleefully.

“Perfect! I don’t mind at all! Done! Oh, but you’ll need to know the rules of the game,” she added, flitting over to him and taking his arm as she guided him over to her team. June ground her teeth, but didn’t protest, to Ace’s satisfaction.

“The only rule that’s changing is the no magic rule,” May added, “The rule is still in place, mind you. But it’s going to be more lax than last round. Bone attacks are now allowed, since we now have so many stuck in the walls and whatnot anyway now, but teleporting is not. On that note, to be fair, this will open up me and June to use magic attacks of our own. Which means June’s orange attacks – her claymores – and since I don’t have any attacks, I’ll be using my shields. However, no other magic will be allowed. Including teleporting. Sound good to everyone?”

The skeletons all nodded in agreeance with the rule change, June bobbing her head as well. May grinned, turning back to her team.

“Aright! Then let’s get into it! Round two! On your marks!”

“Get set.”

“ _Go!_ ”

And again, the sisters took off, sprinting in opposite directions, yet right past each other with wicked smirks. Ace immediately dove after June, giving chase with a grin of his own, the other skeletons scattering in the wake of the three.

With the adjustment of having access to their attacks, the magic rule was recited less, but it did happen that Orange, Red, and Ace were called out for teleporting a few times. However, at one point, Ace was closing in on June when all of a sudden –

“NO MAGIC!!” came Papyrus’ voice from somewhere else in the mansion, with June stopping dead. Ace went to tackle her, since he was going too fast to stop his forward momentum any other way, but she easily dodged him, sending the skeleton sprawling to the floor.

“Who?” June called, catching her breath. Ace glared at her from the floor, slowly picking himself up.

“MYSELF! I ACCIDENTALLY ALMOST USED AN ATTACK THAT WAS NOT A BONE ATTACK!! MY APOLOGIES, PRINCESSES!!!”

June snorted in amusement before breaking out laughing.

“That’s…very good of you to be honest, Sir Papyrus!” May called, but everyone could hear the sigh in her voice. June slapped her hand over her mouth to stifle her feminine giggles, color rising to her cheeks as she tried to fend off the laughter.

Once she caught sight of Ace staring, her hand dropped a little to reveal her grin, more color rising to her cheeks.

“What? You act as if you’ve never heard me laugh before,” she quipped, chuckling as her mirth died down. He shook his head, as if trying to clear it.

“i…haven’t, actually. heard you laugh before. it really humanizes you, princess. er, lady june.”

The look of surprise on June’s face further softened her normally sharp features. Ace always called her princess, a fact and title she hated. But this time he chose to call her by the title she preferred, being more respectful now. Why? What had she said or done to warrant the change? And why did she almost prefer he call her princess?

“I…uh…thank you,” June finally managed, her words soft and mumbled. Ace smiled at her, but rather than his trademark teasing smirk, it was something softer as he turned around, heading back towards the main hall.

“you should try to smile more, princess. it’d do ya some good.”

June stayed standing in the hall a moment, confused and blushing. She was…mildly flustered for some reason, and she couldn’t fathom why. This hadn’t happened before. She was the one who flustered people, not the other way around!

These thoughts only served to confuse and fluster her more, and she stood there puzzling it until Orange came looking for her.

“there you are, lady june…are you okay?” he asked slowly, seeing the pink staining her cheeks and the confusion on her face. At the sound of his voice, her gaze shot up from the floor in front of her and up to Orange’s face, surprised again.

“Oh…ah…how long was I…?”

“at least ten minutes, i think.”

“Oh. Ah…coming. Sorry, sorry.”

Orange frowned at her subdued and embarrassed manor, wondering what happened to get her like that as she walked past him. He followed at a slower pace than her, but eventually, she seemed to collect herself again, squaring her shoulders and walking with confidence.

“you seem kinda off, your highness. everything alright?”

June glanced back to him, and slowing to match his pace.

“I’m alright. Just…caught off guard. It doesn’t happen often, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. I’m still not really sure.”

She added this last part softly, looking confused and insecure like when he first found her. But she managed to shake it off, squaring her shoulders again and returning to herself.

“But that doesn’t matter right now. Right now, we have a score to tie, and a game to win. Let’s get back to the others,” she said firmly, oozing calm confidence like the commander and leader she was.

They made it back and started the game again. Turned out to be the final time, as May and Edge used their teamwork again to get June’s paintbrush from the training room and to their base in one of the bathrooms. The main reason they even got the paintbrush in the first place was because Ace managed to tackle June to the ground this time and keep her there.

Every time June tried to roll him off of her, Ace rolled with her. Every time she struggled, he pinned her tighter. When she tried to attack him, he just pressed himself closer to her until she had to risk her own health to hit him and would stop.

After one of her crocodile style death rolls, she snarled at him, and Ace smugly replied, “pinned ya again.”

“Don’t quote _Lion King_ on me,” she deadpanned.

“would you rather i do it off you?” he smirked, clearly attempting to fluster her again. June gave him a flat look and sighed, making him drop his smile in surprise.

“you’re…not…embarrassed at all?”

June blinked blankly, then twitched her lips in what could have been a smile, had she put more effort into it. Then she arched her body to press against his in a suggestive manner, eliciting a tiny gasp and shiver out of Ace.

“Need I remind you,” she breathed, low and slow, “that I am a lady by birth and title only?”

Her sensual tone combined with how she was pressing herself against him made Ace’s breathing hitch, and his cheekbones burn golden yellow, his lone eye locked onto her face. Then, sensing she had weakened him, June managed to roll so that he was now pinned beneath her, surprising and flustering the tall skeleton further. Drawing on her magic just a little, she made her eyes flash the bright orange and brilliant blue of her Soul before leaning down just inches from Ace’s face, and murmured, “Pinned _you,_ Sir Sans of Patch clan.”

At that, he jerked slightly under her, his eye-light going out as his blush intensified. June chuckled and rolled off of him, getting to her feet again. But then, May rounded the corner to where they were, spotting June climbing off of Ace.

“Oh! I…well. I guess I’ll just…leave you to it then,” May said, stumbling over her words and blushing. She was, however, also grinning at shit-eating proportions. June froze as soon as she heard May’s voice, blushing herself and realizing how this looked to anyone else.

“May, May, May, wait, it’s not what it looks like!” June insisted as she ran after May, the younger princess dashing off cackling.

Upon returning, May immediately told the others of what she’d seen, with a very flustered June trying to shut up her sister unsuccessfully. The various reactions this garnered were rather interesting, with Giant’s being the least emotive (just a sigh and him shuffling off to go get Ace) and resulting in several blushing skeletons. June then hurriedly tried to explain what happened and why, but she only ended up putting her foot in her mouth multiple times and making it worse. Eventually, she gave up, throwing her arms in the air and saying something about going to change so she could cool off in the pool. June left several laughing and blushing skeletons (and her sister) in her wake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _*An alternate route for Ace pinning June down in the hall..._
> 
>  
> 
> “Don’t quote _Lion King_ on me,” she deadpanned.
> 
> "i'm surprised you know that reference," Ace admitted.
> 
> The deadpan look she gave him somehow intensified in its deadpan-ness, and June replied, "I am a princess from a medieval kingdom, not a barbarian."
> 
> Ace snorted and laughed, almost rolling off of June. She herself ended up smirking.
> 
> It was May who came to fetch them, though they both had to chase her down to explain that him having June pinned to the ground hadn't actually meant anything, and they still more or less hated each other. Needless to say, May didn't believe them.


	11. Author's Note

Hey, guys. Singing_Dream, here. So, let me start by saying I really didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to be the author that updated, but instead of putting a chapter up, it was a notice to the readers. I’m understanding when it happens to the authors of the stories I read, but I never wanted it to be me. Unfortunately, my hand is being forced.

So, I do a lot of writing. And I do it quite frequently. And the thing about that is…I don’t keep back-ups of my writing. I’m adding to it and updating my writing too often for me to keep accurate back-up files. Which automatically sounds bad, right? Well, it gets worse. I had been working on a new chapter for Six Knights, Two Princesses when my boyfriend demanded my attention. So I let him have it for a few minutes, but when I tried to get back to my writing, he started messing with me and horsing around. That would have been all fine and good…if the horsing around hadn’t knocked my laptop to the floor. With my flash drive still connected.

The worst part of the whole thing? That flash drive is the one I keep all of my writing on, not just my Undertale stuff. My fanfiction, my poetry, my original works, my resume… _everything._ And now the flash drive is bent a bit and won’t read in my laptop. Which is why the author’s note. I can’t actually access my writing right now, so updates are coming to a grinding halt until I can either get it fixed, or get the data off it and onto a new flash drive. Until then, please bear with me, guys.

For Six Knights, Two Princesses, there won’t really be much of a noticeable difference. I’ve already missed an update because I didn’t have a new chapter ready in time. But now I can say for sure that there won’t be one until I can access my work again.

For Orange and Blueberry Skies and The Skeleton and the Pauper, there will be a noticeable change, since I’m going to miss the next update or two until I can get my writing back.

For Breaching the Multiverse, there might not be a noticeable change, since my co-author, Book_Warrior7 has a (not recently updated, but still currently useful) copy of my writing as well. She should be able to post the chapters in my stead for the time being.

And for Beyond the Multiverse, since it didn’t have a set posting schedule anyway, there won’t be any change from my end at all. (Though if anyone was reading that one its own since it’s bonus content for Breaching the Multiverse, I would question why you’re doing so.)

I’m posting this to all of my current works, since it’s going to be at least a week as of posting this before I can get back to my writings, and you all deserve to know what’s going on instead of radio silence for that week. And please know I am really, incredibly sorry to have to do this. As it stands, if/when I can get my writings back, I will replace this author’s note with a double chapter update proper (if I am able) to make up for the missed updates.

Again, I’m really sorry this happened, but until I can fix it, most everything is going on hiatus. I hope you guys can forgive me and be patient until I can come back.

With much love and respect,

Singing_Dream


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